End Corporal Punishment in the Home NOW

Spanking is Just A Euphamism for Hitting

2008-04-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Warning: The last piece of audio on this clip is heartbreaking. But please note the section on Joey Salvati.

The Nixzmary Brown Trial

2008-02-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

For the results of the trial go here.

New York Newsday runs daily accounts of the trial. Another situation where a "parent" thinks he is simply disciplining a bad child.

In court, Nixzmary Brown's stepdad identifies the wounds he inflicted
BY SCOTT SHIFREL AND TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, February 1st 2008, 4:00 AM

Nixzmary Brown's stepfather Cesar Rodriguez (left) looks at himself on video admitting beating the 7-year-old. Defense attorney Jeffrey Schwartz (c.) and Judge Priscilla Hall watch.
The photos of Nixzmary Brown's bruised, lacerated face and body were brutal enough to drive two spectators from the courtroom during a hearing Thursday.
Accused killer Cesar Rodriguez didn't flinch when investigators showed him the closeups hours after the murder of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, a police video shows.
In fact, the tape - which jurors will see today or Monday - reveals the accused killer coldly catalogued which injuries he had caused.
"The cut in the chin she got when she fell on the floor when I threw her," he told Assistant District Attorney Linda Weinman the evening of Jan. 11, 2006.
"What about the mark above the eye?" Weinman asked.
"She hit herself," Rodriguez claimed.
"What about the black eyes?" Weinman pressed.
"The black eyes, she managed to do that to herself."
The prosecutor showed a photo of Nixzmary's battered back.
"That's from me beating her with the belt," Rodriguez said, referring to marks on her buttocks.
He was less sure about some marks on her waist.
"Same thing - from the belt or my hands," he said. "Maybe pound her on her back."
"What about this mark on her ankle?" Weinman asked later.
"That was from the bungee cord," Rodriguez answered.
"That was from the bungee cord when you tied it around her leg so she couldn't leave the room?" Weinman said.
"Right," replied Rodriguez.
The questioning lasted 45 minutes, with Rodriguez detailing shameful abuse he had heaped on the second-grader.
Nixzmary weighed just 36 pounds, but Rodriguez described her as a beast who attacked her siblings and stole food.
He admitted he tied her to a chair in a back room, kept her out of school to hide her bruises, and withheld yogurt as a punishment.
When Nixzmary took a yogurt and damaged a computer printer hours before her death, Rodriguez became enraged.
"I took her into the bathroom and I put cold water on her," he admitted. "I asked her if she did it, and she didn't want to answer me, and so I turned off the water and I left her in the room on the floor."
He denied hitting her head against the faucet or the wall.
Weinman asked if he was aware Nixzmary died from a massive brain injury, and Rodriguez said he was.
"I wouldn't know how she did that," he said.
Jurors weren't present for the video, played in a hearing about whether to redact a section in which Rodriguez is asked if Nixzmary ate cat food.
So they didn't hear defense lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz make an insensitive remark while arguing the question should be cut.
"There's calories in cat food," Schwartz said, quickly adding, "I'm not saying it's appropriate to feed it to a child."
Schwartz plans to argue that Rodriguez's statement was coerced, hoping the jury will discount it, but prosecutor Ama Dwimoh said the tape is "one of the most powerful pieces of evidence we have ... it's his words."

New York Newsday runs daily accounts of the trial. Another situation where a "parent" thinks he is simply disciplining a bad child.

In court, Nixzmary Brown's stepdad identifies the wounds he inflicted
BY SCOTT SHIFREL AND TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, February 1st 2008, 4:00 AM

Nixzmary Brown's stepfather Cesar Rodriguez (left) looks at himself on video admitting beating the 7-year-old. Defense attorney Jeffrey Schwartz (c.) and Judge Priscilla Hall watch.
The photos of Nixzmary Brown's bruised, lacerated face and body were brutal enough to drive two spectators from the courtroom during a hearing Thursday.
Accused killer Cesar Rodriguez didn't flinch when investigators showed him the closeups hours after the murder of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, a police video shows.
In fact, the tape - which jurors will see today or Monday - reveals the accused killer coldly catalogued which injuries he had caused.
"The cut in the chin she got when she fell on the floor when I threw her," he told Assistant District Attorney Linda Weinman the evening of Jan. 11, 2006.
"What about the mark above the eye?" Weinman asked.
"She hit herself," Rodriguez claimed.
"What about the black eyes?" Weinman pressed.
"The black eyes, she managed to do that to herself."
The prosecutor showed a photo of Nixzmary's battered back.
"That's from me beating her with the belt," Rodriguez said, referring to marks on her buttocks.
He was less sure about some marks on her waist.
"Same thing - from the belt or my hands," he said. "Maybe pound her on her back."
"What about this mark on her ankle?" Weinman asked later.
"That was from the bungee cord," Rodriguez answered.
"That was from the bungee cord when you tied it around her leg so she couldn't leave the room?" Weinman said.
"Right," replied Rodriguez.
The questioning lasted 45 minutes, with Rodriguez detailing shameful abuse he had heaped on the second-grader.
Nixzmary weighed just 36 pounds, but Rodriguez described her as a beast who attacked her siblings and stole food.
He admitted he tied her to a chair in a back room, kept her out of school to hide her bruises, and withheld yogurt as a punishment.
When Nixzmary took a yogurt and damaged a computer printer hours before her death, Rodriguez became enraged.
"I took her into the bathroom and I put cold water on her," he admitted. "I asked her if she did it, and she didn't want to answer me, and so I turned off the water and I left her in the room on the floor."
He denied hitting her head against the faucet or the wall.
Weinman asked if he was aware Nixzmary died from a massive brain injury, and Rodriguez said he was.
"I wouldn't know how she did that," he said.
Jurors weren't present for the video, played in a hearing about whether to redact a section in which Rodriguez is asked if Nixzmary ate cat food.
So they didn't hear defense lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz make an insensitive remark while arguing the question should be cut.
"There's calories in cat food," Schwartz said, quickly adding, "I'm not saying it's appropriate to feed it to a child."
Schwartz plans to argue that Rodriguez's statement was coerced, hoping the jury will discount it, but prosecutor Ama Dwimoh said the tape is "one of the most powerful pieces of evidence we have ... it's his words."

"Discipline" Ends in Baby's Death

2007-11-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

Riley, 'Baby Grace" was "disciplined" by her mother and step-father. Now, she's dead.

"Back in the Good Ol' Days..." and other arguments in favor of hitting children

2007-11-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

10 Pro-Corporal Punishment Arguments & 10 Commonsense Answers
© 2000-2003 by Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed, LMHC

Argument #1: "It didn't do ME any harm!"

Answer: Often people who declare this typical argument do so very defensively. They may feel they must defend the actions of their caretakers. To do otherwise is to admit that as children, they never deserved to have pain inflicted upon them. They must also admit to the feelings of fear, anger and mistrust that may have resulted from being hit by loved ones who were supposed to keep them safe from harm. Often, people who use this argument use or have used corporal punishment on their own children, thus defending their actions to minimize guilt. However, their actions reveal that corporal punishment DID do them harm: It perpetuated the cycle of violence that they now endorse or inflict upon children.

Argument #2: "Most people who were corporally punished as kids turned out to live productive lives!" (Or, "I hit MY kids and THEY turned out fine!")

Answer: The human spirit is amazingly resilient. Many people who have experienced suffering as children are able to live productive lives. However, these people may harbor self-destructive tendencies, and interpersonal difficulties in that aren‘t apparent to onlookers. Adults who were mistreated in childhood are often insecure, mistrusting, defensive, authoritarian, passive, withdrawn, apathetic, in denial or quick to sarcasm. Those who transcend childhood suffering are often highly resilient people who have sought to process and understand how their childhood history currently impacts their lives. Due to the vast differences in each individual’s biological makeup, temperament, cognitive endurance, environment, supportive system and resources, not every person possesses an equal level of resiliency. Some people are able to flourish and achieve success in spite of childhood pain; while other people become overwhelmed by rage and anxiety and act destructively against others or towards themselves. We cannot know ahead of time how corporal punishment will adversely affect a child, or how any adverse affects will manifest. To risk the outcome of an angry, aggressive, withdrawn or insecure person is too high a risk to take even once.

Argument #3: "I HAVE to use corporal punishment, nothing else works!" (or "Time Outs don’t work!")

Answer: True discipline is about developing a trusting, mutually respectful relationship between child and caretaker. To inflict pain on a child as a means of control is a lazy way out of the work it takes to help a child understand and internalize proper behavior. If you have used corporal punishment on your child, it will take time and effort for new methods to work. Years of negative patterns can't be erased overnight with a simple solution. Nagging, yelling, threatening, controlling and punishing must stop before an effective relationship can be built and your child can trust you and understand the consequences of his/her behavior. People who use the argument "I’ve tried everything and nothing else works" often reveal that they haphazardly tried several techniques learned in various books, without actually committing to or following through consistently with one approach. The result is an unorganized set of chaotic rules or consequences that change often and confuse the child... and make the adult appear out of control. People dissatisfied with their lack of success with "time outs" tend to use "time out" in a punitive manner. These people may expect a tantruming child to comply with sitting in a designated chair for a set amount of minutes. This punitive method of "time out" generates powers struggles rather than compliance. A more effective method is to direct the child to quiet room in which to calm down, then allowing the child to rejoin you when he or she expresses readiness. There need be no time limit or nagging. The number of brief time outs can be increased until the child understands that he or she must regain control of him/herself. As an adult, how do you deal with adults who you can't seem to gain cooperation from? Do you hit your boss, employee, spouse or best friend when it appears that "nothing else works"?

Argument #4: "I only use corporal punishment as a last resort."

Answer: This reasoning teaches children that it is acceptable to use violence as a last resort to getting their way or to solving a difficult problem. This teaches that violence is the end result to frustrating situations that seem to have no other solution. Wars are fought on this principle. This argument is no more acceptable than an angry spouse saying that they "only" hit their mate "as a last resort" to a problem.

Argument #5: "There's a difference between child abuse and a little spanking!"

Answer: Violent acts occur on a continuum. Some are extreme, such as acts of torture or murder, others are less extreme such as a shove or a slap. Regardless of where they fall on the continuum, they are all acts of violence. Before the late 1960's, a husband's slap of his wife was not regarded as an act of abuse. Today, that same act is unquestionably viewed as abusive (society still has a long way to go before wives are equally regarded as batterers for assaulting their husbands). The "spanking" of children is viewed in the same light today as wife hitting was viewed before the 1960's: NOT abusive by legal standards. Additionally, if an employer "spanked" the buttocks of an employee, it would be grounds for sexual assault. Is there really a difference between child abuse and "a little spanking", or is society too uncomfortable with the idea of protecting children's right to be free from assault in the way that adults are currently protected?

Argument #6: "Corporal Punishment is Effective."

Answer: Corporal punishment may produce immediate results, but it makes discipline more difficult for caretakers in the long term. Corporal punishment teaches children to be sneaky- to follow your orders when only when you are around. It teaches children to become liars- to lie about misbehavior to avoid being hit, spanked, slapped or punished in some other degrading manner. Most importantly, corporal punishment slings arrows into the parent-child relationship, and communicates disrespect. It can destroy a child’s sense of trust and security in the relationship and confuses the definition of love. Moreover, corporal punishment has consistently been found to lead to anger, rage, aggressive behavior, revenge seeking, nightmares, disrespect for authority, higher stakes for depression, post traumatic stress, anxiety, substance use, sadomasochistic sexual fetishes, child abuse, spousal abuse, delinquency and of course... more corporal punishment (Straus, 1994). A single act of corporal punishment may be effective at immediately frightening a child into submission. However, caretakers who value their children will insist on positive, non-violent ways to discipline children.

Argument #7: "The Reason Kids Are So Bad These Days Is Because of a Lack of Corporal Punishment!"

Answer: Contrary to this argument, Straus (1994) and Gershoff (2002) report that over 90% of parents still report using corporal punishment on their children. Despite increased adult cynicism towards young people, incidents of youth crime have actually dropped since the early 1990’s. Isolated violent incidents committed by severely disturbed children are often inflated by the media to give the impression that young people are out of control. With regards to the wave of school shootings of recent years, all but one of these incidents occurred in school systems which use corporal punishment. In fact, in one school shooting case, the child targeted and shot the school teacher who had paddled him the day before. Corporal punishment is most strongly practiced in the southern and southwestern areas of the United States. These states actually have the highest rates of student violence, murder and incarceration in the country! Unfortunately, people who use argument #7 assume that discipline is synonymous with corporal punishment. If they observe the negative behaviors of children with permissive or neglectful parents, they may wrongly conclude that the child needs corporal punishment. In fact, children who are physically punished have been consistently found to have higher rates of aggression, juvenile delinquency and disrespect for authority- the very behaviors people want to prevent in children! Instead, children who have strong, loving role models, receive consistent guidance, firm limits, opportunities for democratic communication, logical consequences and positive, non-punitive discipline are more likely to manifest self discipline, critical thinking skills, personal accountability, good social skills and respect and concern for others. A child who is hit, smacked, spanked, paddled and hurt learns to be do the same.

Argument #8: "Corporal punishment teaches children to be obedient !"

Answer: In the early 1900’s, obedience was an important virtue. It was important for the children of hard-working laborers to be primed for lives of obedient servitude in mills and factories. Corporal punishment kept children in line, stifling critical thinking skills, negotiation, democratic communication with elders, questioning authority, bold individualistic deviations from the norm and opportunities to learn naturally from mistakes. In modern times, all of the qualities looked upon as dangerous in the early 1900’s are all qualities now necessary and vital in order to succeed in today’s innovative and competitive society. Enforcing blind obedience does not promote these skills. In order for children to grow into adults able to be successful in the modern world, they require discipline that promotes critical thinking, logical consequences, good communication and self discipline.

Argument #9: "What if they run out in the street or try to touch a hot stove? They need to be hit to learn that it is a dangerous situation!"

Answer: If you believe that hitting your child for running out into the street or reaching for a hot stove is effective, would you leave them alone near the street or stove once you’ve hit them? Being hit is in no way teaches anything about the dangers of the street or the stove, nor will it prevent them from exploring dangerous situations in the future. Instead, hitting children teaches them that YOU are dangerous and can inflict pain upon them. Children should not be hurt or punished for their lack of experience about the world, and for their developmental immaturity. It is the caretaker’s responsibility to remove opportunities for a child to encounter dangerous situations in their environment through proper monitoring and "child-proofing" efforts. Children can be taught gradually to exercise caution around dangerous situations, through your example, and constant reminders. Until they comprehend the dangers, they must be supervised, not hit.

Argument #10: "The Bible admonishes us to use 'the rod' on children!"

Answer: Children are assaulted on a daily basis in the name of religious devotion due to a few Biblical scriptures that have been taken out of context. Proverbs 23:13,14 is a commonly cited scripture for the support of corporal punishment. From a historical perspective, King Solomon, author of the book of Proverbs, was recorded as a brutal king who was thirsty for violence and who later opposed the law of God. His sons, who no doubt received corporal punishment, were rebellious, disrespectful and very aggressive. Given King Solomon's lack of family success, is he a good spiritual role model for parenting? In contrast, Jesus Christ was by far the Bible's most peaceful figure. There is no scripture in the New Testament in which Jesus advocates for, admonishes or recommends the use of corporal punishment on children. In stark contrast, he stated that people should treat others the way they wish to be treated. That is hardly a support for violence. Citing isolated Biblical scriptures is not an acceptable argument for using corporal punishment on children. Using the same technique of taking ancient, isolated scriptures out of context, one could also justify polygamy, racism, slavery, banishing menstruating women from public and stoning to death of those who have sexual relations outside of marriage. Additionally, there is no evidence that the "rod" of the Bible was anything other than a symbolic metaphor for a shepherd's staff, which was used to lead or guide, not hit, sheep. To take a few isolated scriptures from the Old testament out of context to excuse assaulting children is a gross contradiction of Jesus' message of love, tenderness and peace.

Three Cheers for Massachusetts

2007-11-28T03:27:00.000-08:00

Massachusetts comes to its senses about children.

Another Baby "Punished" to Death for Crying

2007-11-05T19:16:00.000-08:00

From the Timesledger.com:

11/05/2007
Father killed 13-month-old daughter: DA
By:Howard Koplowitz

A South Ozone Park man allegedly killed his 13-month-old daughter Saturday because she would not stop crying, Queens DA Richard Brown said.
Peter O'Keefe, 35, of 150-20 117th St. in South Ozone Park, was held without bail after he was arraigned on charges of murder and endangering the welfare of a child, Brown said in a statement.
O'Keefe, a bookkeeper with a Manhattan printing company, faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the charges, according to the DA.
"The defendant was supposed to protect his child, not harm her," Brown said. "This very disturbing case will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
O'Keefe allegedly became agitated when his 13-month-old daughter would not stop crying Saturday afternoon while he was baby-sitting her, the DA said. He then allegedly beat and shook the girl and threw her to the floor before fleeing the home without getting the baby help, Brown said.
The girl's mother found her unconscious when she came home after an afternoon of shopping with a friend, according to the DA.
The baby was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:25 p.m., Brown said. The girl suffered a fractured skull, head trauma, human bite marks to her right arm and bruises, he said.
O'Keefe fled to Philadelphia and was arrested Sunday at his mother's home after returning to New York.

Chickory Wood Products

2007-09-05T03:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I am sad to say there is yet another paddle maker in the US!! Chickory Wood Products of Wisconsin is making and selling these child-beating implements: Chickory Wood Products Please write to them at: sales@chickorywoodproducts.com Here is a sample letter:

Dear Chickory Wood Products,

Please stop selling "paddles" for beating children. To sell these paddles only encourages a mentality of beating children and condoning gross child abuse, injury, and death. I am boycotting your company and advising others to do so until you stop selling these child-beating implements.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
-------------------------------------

Thank you for writing them!! And please pass this email on to others!!

What is it about paddles anyway? They are more brutal than "The Rod" yet they seem more accepted by society. Is it because "paddles" are still used in some US schools? It's so tragic, and senseless.

Thank you for caring about children.

Susan Lawrence
Director, Stop the Rod
Stop the Rod
Parenting in Jesus'Footsteps

Note: The paddles come in a variety of sizes, including the smallest which is meant for children under 6. Disgusting.

NH Store Protects Bears, Promotes Hitting Children

2007-08-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

Edited to say: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Clark's has discontinued the product in response to the overwhelmingly negative reaction to it. Thanks to all who wrote!

A gift shop in New Hampshire is selling paddles for beating children!! Clark's Trading Post is selling wooden boards with these words on them: "Never hit a child in the face. Mother Nature created a better place." They are called "Kid Attitude Adjuster" and have a picture of a small child being beaten on the buttocks. Interestingly, Clark's Trading Post also has black bear shows, and claims their bears are "not forced to perform" and they only use "positive reinforcement". If so, why are they treating the bears better than children?? Please write to them at info@clarkstradingpost.com

Here is a sample letter:

Dear Clark's Trading Post,
Please stop selling items for hitting children. Beating a small child is not funny, it is dangerous and humiliating to the child. If you are really treating your show bears so well that you only use positive reinforcement to train them to do tricks, why would you encourage worse treatment of vulnerable children?

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
(your name)
---------------

Thank you for writing them!! Please pass this on to others!! I confess I was truly shocked that this was happening in NH. It seems like nowhere in safe in the US from these device peddlers.

Susan Lawrence
Director, Stop the Rod

From the EPOCH Website

2007-07-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

A "BLACK AND BLUE" DAY FOR CALIFORNIA CHILDREN
June 1, 2007

HOW SAD THAT YESTERDAY CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS FAILED TO PASS A MODEST PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN, ASSEMBLY BILL 755. THE BILL WOULD HAVE MADE IT EASIER TO PROSECUTE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN, THE LEADING CAUSE OF PHYSICAL ABUSE. SHAME ON CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS FOR "STANDING DOWN" FOR CHILDREN. THANK YOU TO ASSEMBLY WOMAN SALLY LIEBER FOR BRINGING THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE TO PUBLIC ATTENTION. LET'S HOPE THIS BILL IS REVIVED IN THE NEAR FUTURE AND HAS A BETTER OUTCOME!

NADINE BLOCK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE AND CO-CHAIR OF EPOCH-USA 155 W MAIN STREET #1603, COLUMBUS, OH 43215 (614) 221-8829

More Action You Can Take!

2007-05-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

Ted Tripp, author of the baby-whipping book "Shepherding a Child's Heart" is doing a child "training" talk at Onancock Baptist Church in Virginia. Please tell them to cancel this talk!! Write their office at obcsecretary@verizon.net Here is a sample letter:

Dear Onancock Baptist Church,
I am deeply concerned that your church is hosting a talk by Ted Tripp. Tripp is well known for advocating hitting young children and infants under 1 year on their bare skin. This is not an activity that should be encouraged by any church; it is child abuse. Please see http://www.stoptherod.net/tripp.html
Sincerely,
(your name)
------------------------------------------------

Thank you everyone!! Tripp is a true menace!! And here is another action to take if you have time: North Carolina voted recently on banning hitting schoolchildren with boards. It was expected to pass, but failed in part due to comments by Rep. Ronnie Sutton. Please write to Rep. Sutton!! Rons@ncleg.net Here is a sample letter:

Dear Rep. Sutton,
I am very sorry you were hit so much as a child. But the truth about hitting is that it tends to make children more likely to become violent criminals, not less. Please see http://stoptherod.net/research.htm It also is important to note that states that have banned "paddling" have lower violent crime rates. The next time you vote on this issue, vote for truth and a less violent world.
Thank you,
(your name)
------------------------------------------------

Thank you again everyone!! We are an important voice speaking out against violence to children!!

(courtesy of Susan Lawrence, Director, Stop the Rod
Stop the Rod
Parenting in Jesus' Footsteps

Kindness to Children Index - US Needs to Improve

2007-04-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

Columbus, OH... April 30 2007 --- In observance of SpankOut Day USA April 30th, End Physical Punishment of Children (EPOCH-USA) is releasing its 2007 Kindness to Children Index showing progress being made in giving U.S. children legal protection from corporal punishment. "The overwhelming majority of research studies show corporal punishment to be harmful to children. It sometimes leads to injury and contributes to an anti-social attitude by teaching children that it is permissible to hit younger, weaker persons," says Nadine Block, SpankOut Day chair.

Each state was ranked according to whether it has specifically banned corporal punishment by law in schools, family day care, day care centers and home foster care. States earned ratings of "satisfactory" (no corporal punishment allowed in those settings), "unsatisfactory" (corporal punishment allowed in one of those settings) and "failing" (corporal punishment allowed in two or more settings).

Failing:
Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana and South Carolina have not specifically banned corporal punishment in two or more public settings for children.

Unsatisfactory:
Falling in the "unsatisfactory" group are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.

The majority of states receiving an "unsatisfactory" rating permit corporal punishment in schools.

"Twenty-one U.S. states still allow the barbaric practice of hitting school children with boards, an alarming number at odds with l09 nations that have banned school corporal punishment," says Nadine Block, SpankOut Day USA Chair. "It is a practice that is used disproportionately on poor children, children with disabilities, boys and minorities. It leads to injuries of students and lawsuits against school districts."

The 10 worst states, by percentage of students struck by educators in the 2002-2003 school year:
Rank State Percentage
1 Mississippi 9.1
2 Arkansas 7.6
3 Alabama 5.2
4 Tennessee 4.3
5 Oklahoma 2.8
6 Louisiana 2.3
7 Georgia 1.7
8 Texas 1.4
9 Missouri 0.8
10 Kentucky 0.5

For more information see this chart.

Verbal Abuse Harms Children Too

2007-04-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Incredibly, there was a guest on The Today Show who tried defending Alec Baldwin's verbal assault on his daughter, saying it "wasn't that bad" and that we're raising a generation of "fragile kids" who can't take a little criticism.

Thankfully, a psychologist responded to him by pointing out that fragile kids are created by parents who demean them in this way.

Inexcusable, in any context.

Vote to Protect Children in North Carolina Schools

2007-03-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

Lawmakers Back Spanking Ban For N.C. Schools

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Lawmakers said they will introduce a bill Wednesday that would ban corporal punishment in every public school across North Carolina.

The idea has the backing of groups that represent teachers, administrators, parents and children.
June Atkinson, the state superintendent of public instruction, said there's no need to spank an unruly child these days. She said teachers have other options to teach discipline and reward good behavior.

State Rep. Martha Alexander said she was inspired to introduce the bill after hearing about a case in Robeson County last year. In that instance, a 12-year-old boy made a friend cry by poking him in a game. He was severely bruised by a teacher's spanking and had to visit the emergency room.

Forty-seven school districts in North Carolina ban corporal punishment, while it's allowed in 68 districts -- or about 59 percent. North Carolina is one of 21 states that allow corporal punishment, though many of those states let local school districts set policies against it.

Vote in the poll here .

Child-death Suspects are Nabbed

2007-03-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

Web Posted: 03/11/2007 01:23 AM CST

Brian Chasnoff
Express-News
Valerie Lopez on Christmas Eve beat her 18-month-old daughter to death, hid the body beneath their South Side apartment and two months later added the body of her infant son, officials said Saturday.
Yet, the young mother's life at 1302 W. Winnipeg Ave. assumed a predictable, occasionally joyful pattern as the weeks turned to months and a stench began to settle around the triplex.

She baked a birthday cake in January for her live-in boyfriend, Jerry Salazar, and hosted a party in the room above her daughter's decomposing body. On Valentine's Day, she brought him fresh roses and a box of chocolates, later joining guests for a barbeque get-together in the triplex's front yard.

A dead animal, the couple claimed, was stinking up the property. They told friends the children were staying with their grandmother.

"It didn't seem like it bothered her or him," said Tony Serenil, 41, a tenant at the triplex and Salazar's cousin. "Like if those children never existed."

Such delusions of normalcy were shattered last week when a neighbor discovered beneath the triplex the bodies of Sariyah Garcia and 4-month-old Sebastian Lopez. On Saturday, a task force of law enforcement officials tracked the couple to the South Side apartment of an acquaintance of Salazar's, capping a four-day manhunt, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Tom Smith said.

The couple had hidden in a shed a few blocks from the triplex and possibly a brushy, remote field near Southwest Loop 410 and Texas 16, Smith said. They were captured about 5 a.m. at the apartment without struggle.

Salazar, 28, was charged with injury to a child by omission "because he admitted knowing (Lopez) was abusing the children," District Attorney Susan Reed said at a news conference.
Salazar remained in Bexar County Jail on Saturday in lieu of posting $1 million bond.

Lopez, 19, was charged with one count of capital murder in the death of Sariyah. She remained in Bexar County Jail on Saturday in lieu of posting $10 million bond.

Reed said she plans to seek the death penalty against Lopez.

Lopez admitted to police the child "would not stop crying so (she) repeatedly struck (Sariyah) about the head and body," according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.

Later the child appeared unresponsive.

"Instead of calling for medical attention, (she) wrapped (Sariyah) in a blanket, wrapped the blanket with tape and placed the child in a trash bag," the document said.

She then put the trash bag in a duffel bag and hid it under the house, the affidavit said.

When Sebastian died, Lopez treated his body the same way and placed it under the house with his sister. Questioned Saturday by police, Lopez said she had killed her son accidentally by rolling onto him, Reed said.

"For whatever reason, evil lurks in some individuals and they kill children," Reed said. "But we can't stand by and wash our hands of it."

Police Chief William McManus, echoing the outrage expressed by many people, called the children's deaths "an unspeakable tragedy."

Some believe the tragedy could have been avoided.

Child Protective Services first became aware of Lopez in 2002 when the 15-year-old mother was accused of punching her 9-month-old daughter, Alexis Ramirez, in the chest with a closed fist. Lopez was convicted in juvenile court of assault on a child.

CPS later placed Lopez and Alexis in a foster home after an accusation that Lopez herself had been abused. The next year Lopez gave birth to a son, Jeovoni Lopez, who eventually was placed in the same foster home.

Lopez ran away from the home in January 2005, leaving her two children behind. They were later were adopted. In October of that year, Lopez gave birth to Sariyah.

At first, CPS had no idea that Lopez had had another child, CPS spokeswoman Mary Walker said.

But a grandmother of Sariyah called police in November when she suspected the child was being abused. An officer saw a bruise on the child's face but left after Lopez told the officer a 5-year-old neighbor had hit Sariyah, said police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino.

Police have the authority to remove children from homes, but the officer chose not to after investigating the mother's claim; instead he called CPS. When a caseworker arrived at the triplex later that day, no one was home. CPS failed to make contact with the couple or their children despite more than 40 attempts between November and March, Walker said.

"This isn't just knocking on doors. It's peering through windows, talking to neighbors," she said.

Neighbors have countered the agency's excuses, saying the couple often hung out on the triplex's front porch, and Lopez worked at a fast-food restaurant just one block away. Saturday, someone had spray painted "Shame on CPS" on a wooden board nailed to the triplex.

Lopez's relatives, who had pined for the young mother's capture, weren't elated Saturday, only angry and exhausted.

Two of her sisters recalled Christmas Day when Lopez failed to show up at a family gathering. She hasn't contacted them since.

They recounted a young life often spent promiscuously on the streets because Lopez's separated parents would not allow her behavior in their homes.

Yet there were moments when Lopez seemed happy to be a mom, said Tina Vara, her sister, who called police more than four years ago when Lopez struck Alexis in the chest.

"There would be times she would play with (her children) and be nice to them," Vara said. "But then she would just flip."

End this Brutality Against Children!

2007-02-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

Please see this link.

Thank you everyone who wrote "Joey" Salvati about his child-beating
business! Let's keep the pressure on, and write to the Better Business
Bureau in his area, at info@pittsburgh.bbb.org Here is a sample letter
(feel free to write your own!):

Dear Better Business Bureau,

There is a carpentry business called Salvati Construction & Design in
New Kensington, PA. They are making and selling devices to beat babies
and children with. I wish to register a complaint against them for their
unethical behavior and blatant promotion of child abuse. Children are
injured and even die from being beaten with these types of boards.
Please visit these websites: www.stoptherod.net and http://nospank.net/n-q59r.htm

This brutality must end. Thank you.

(your name)
------------

Thank you for writing to them!! Feel free to CC Mr. Salvati:
joeysalvati@yahoo.com Please post this info on your blogs! Thank you!!

The Truth About Spanking/Hitting

2007-01-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

SHOULD SPANKING BE BANNED?

California Assemblywoman Sally J. Lieber is introducing a bill to ban corporal punishment of children in homes. It would make it a misdemeanor to hit infants and babies. A majority of states already ban its use in schools. No state bans its use in homes. Should corporal punishment be banned in all settings for children, even homes?

WHAT IS CORPORAL PUNISHMENT?

Corporal punishment is the intentional infliction of physical pain to punish misbehavior. Corporal punishment often used against children includes spanking, pulling ears, pinching and hitting with instruments like belts, whips, and paddles.

A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE

Proponents of banning corporal punishment of children say it is a human rights issue. In the US, corporal punishment was once lawful for wives, slaves, military personnel, people in institutions, and prisoners. Laws have been passed to give all adults protection from this practice. We continue to allow children, the smallest and most vulnerable people in our society, to be hit. Some people say a law against hitting children is an abuse of parents’ rights. Do we consider it an abuse of husbands’ rights to prohibit hitting wives? “People are not for hitting and children are people too”, says Kansas psychologist and EPOCH-USA Advisory Board member, John Valusek.

REDUCING PHYSICAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN

Many child abuse experts have called for an end to corporal punishment of children as a means of reducing childhood physical abuse. In almost all cases, physical abuse begins as “discipline”, hitting or shaking a child. In New York, 9,031 children were physically abused in 2004 according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Studies show that actual rates of abuse are much higher. We continue to spend billions of dollars on child abuse treatment. Children continue to fall between the cracks of the institutions that were designed to protect them. Banning corporal punishment of children in schools has led to far fewer physical paddling injuries. Likewise, banning corporal punishment of children in homes would reduce physical abuse in those settings

INTERNATIONAL PROGRESS IN PROTECTING CHILDREN

Sixteen countries, mostly in Europe, have banned corporal punishment of children in all settings including homes. One hundred nine countries have banned corporal punishment in schools. These legal actions were taken to reduce physical abuse of children and give children the right that other human beings have to be free from physical harm. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child through its Committee on the Rights of the child has called on all member states to ban corporal punishment of children and institute education programs on positive discipline. Last year, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a ban of all forms of corporal punishment of children. An international study on violence against children currently before the UN General Assembly calls for a ban on all corporal punishment of children. The author of the report, Dr. Sergio Pinheiro says that calling for an end to all corporal punishment is challenging but “Children’s rights to life, survival, development, dignity and physical integrity do not stop at the door of the family home, not do states’ obligations to ensure these rights for children”.

SHOULD CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN BE BANNED? YES

CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE

The Center for Effective Discipline is a non-profit organization which provides information about the effects of corporal punishment and alternatives to its use. It operates two programs, End Physical Punishment of Children (EPOCH-USA) and the National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools.

Contact: Nadine Block, Executive Director of the Center for Effective Discipline, 155 W Main Street #1603, Columbus OH 43215

Tel: 614-221-8829 Fax: 614-221-2110 URL: www.stophitting.org

Sally Lieber Takes a Stand Against Hitting Children

2007-01-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

Of course, people who desperately want the "right" to hit their kids are up in arms.

No-spanking bill's backer - Mtn. View's Sally Lieber - taking her turn in the spotlight

By Mike Zapler
MediaNews Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO - Assemblywoman Sally Lieber has tackled some controversial issues in her time, writing bills to raise the minimum wage and relieve prison overcrowding. Then she proposed a ban on spanking and sparked a real debate.

The Mountain View Democrat has surged to mini-celebrity status in the few days since the Mercury News published a story on her idea to ban spanking of young children. The Today Show, The Early Show, Good Morning America, Bill O'Reilly, -- you name the program, chances are it's clamoring for an interview with Lieber.

Of course, many view her as the villain, not the hero. But no one questions that the 45-year-old lawmaker has succeeded in generating huge publicity for her cause -- and stirring a national conversation not only about child discipline but about the role of government in general.

``I think we've hit upon an issue,'' Lieber said, in perhaps the understatement of the year.

The issue is pretty simple: Lieber wants to make spanking children age 3 and under a misdemeanor. Offenders could face up to a year in jail or up to a $1,000 fine, though first-time violators would probably only have to attend parenting classes.

Lieber has yet to even introduce a bill, but the mere description of her idea in a Mercury News article this week triggered a hailstorm of reaction -- most of it negative, some of it viciously personal. The story appeared to break a Mercury News record for most online feedback -- as of Friday afternoon, it had elicited 86 pages of reader comments, along with many, many dozens of e-mails. Some defended spanking; many others said the government has no business telling them how to raise their kids.

``Unreal,'' ``absurd,'' and ``idiotic'' were some of the gentler adjectives readers used.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fed the spanking frenzy on Thursday when, responding to questions from the Mercury News, he said he ``got smacked about everything'' as a child in Austria but has never hit his own kids. Schwarzenegger had doubts about how a spanking ban would be enforced but said Lieber's idea seems well-intentioned.

Friday afternoon, Lieber was holed up in her office in Mountain View after returning from an interview on CNN. A crew from Good Morning America was camped out in her lobby for hours, waiting to get her on camera. ``I'm under siege,'' Lieber said, only half-joking.

Much of the media coverage of her bill has been snide or dismissive -- with a decided ``there go those California kooks again'' tone. Still, Lieber said her proposal is getting the kind of public hearing she could have only dreamed of.

``The volume tells me this issue is very ingrained in society,'' she said. ``People are very wedded to the ability to physically punish children, but almost across the board say they don't do it.'' Actually, dozens of Mercury News readers defended the use of an occasional spank to keep kids in line.

Barbara O'Connor, who studies the interplay of politics and the media, said Lieber may be misreading the tidal wave of reaction.

``It's the kind of bill that comes up in every session of the Legislature that feeds the perception that governmental representatives are clueless,'' said O'Connor, director of the Institute for Study of Politics and the Media at Sacramento State University. ``People don't want government telling them how to raise their family.''

And it's the kind of story the media loves, she said, because it's easy to explain and provokes a visceral response.

``It's something everyone has an opinion about,'' O'Connor said. ``It's water cooler conversation.''

Some reader comments have personally assailed the assemblywoman. Seizing on the fact that Lieber has a cat but no children, one person called her ``the cat lady'' and another a ``spinster'' who's ignorant about child rearing.

Lieber said she wasn't bothered by the insults. ``I'd rather be called a few names,'' she said, ``than know there are children out there being beaten who are defenseless.''

And she has no intention of backing down, even though the issue has become all-consuming. Lieber said she began fielding media calls at 7 a.m. Friday, and her chief of staff claimed he was so busy answering the phone that he didn't have time to shower.

``In a sense I kind of feel like, `Hey, is this the biggest issue we ought to be dealing with?' '' Lieber said. ``But then again, children of a very young age shouldn't be beaten, so this is a fundamental issue.''

Disturbing Statistic

2007-01-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

From wnbc.com:

Report: Suspected Child Abuse Deaths Rise In NYC

POSTED: 9:01 am EST January 8, 2007
UPDATED: 11:07 am EST January 8, 2007
NEW YORK -- Deaths of children suspected of being abused are on the rise in New York City.

The New York Post reports that in 2006 there were 40 such deaths as opposed to 25 in 2005. The newspaper compared data between Jan. 1 through Nov. 30 for both years.
The number of child abuse cases reported is also on the rise, according to data from the city's Administration for Children's Services. As of Dec. 28, 67,953 cases of child abuse and neglect were reported to caseworkers. That compares to 52,023 the year before.
The increases is leading to long waiting times at Family Court and taxing the child welfare system.
The ACS underwent a major overhaul last year as a result of the brutal beating death of Nixmary Brown. The 7-year-old Brooklyn girl's parents could face life in prison on charges of murder. Her mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, is scheduled to appear in court today in Brooklyn.

2006-12-07T05:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

As you know, we lost our one co-sponsor for the bill to ban devices to beat children. (Rep. Johnson was defeated in the election). I spoke with Jeff Duncan, aide to Rep. Markey who is sponsoring the bill, and he said it would really help if we could find another co-sponsor. Preferably a Republican (for bi-partisan support) but any co-sponsors would really help!!

So, please write to your US Representative!! Enter your state & ZIP code at this webpage. Then click "Contact My
Representative". You will be taken to your Representative's homepage where you can contact them. Here is a sample letter you can use:

Dear Representative ________,

I am your constituent, and I am deeply concerned that it is legal to sell devices specifically for whipping and beating babies and children in the US. Rep. Ed Markey is sponsoring a bill to ban the marketing of these devices. Please co-sponsor this important bill, to end the advertising and sale of these devices.

I am part of the Stop the Rod activist group, and we have worked hard for several years, without government assistance, to stop the sale of these devices. We have had some success, but without a law in place to end this ugly business for good, it will still continue. Please lend your support in this worthy endeavor. Rep. Markey's aide, Jeff Duncan, who is working actively on writing the bill, can be reached at (202) 225-2836, or Jeff.Duncan@mail.house.gov

I look forward to hearing from you.

(your name)

Thank you for writing!! If we can get some co-sponsors, I think it will pass easily!!

Susan Lawrence
Director, Stop the Rod
Stop the Rod
Parenting in Jesus' Footsteps
***********************************************************************

OTHER NEWS
Mississippi mother beats 5 year old to death:
Link to Story

You can write a letter to the editor of the local paper in Mississippi: letters@jackson.gannett.com Letters should be 250 words or less, and say "Letter to the Editor" in the Subject line. Include your name, address and phone #.

Stop spanking kids in Canada:
Link to Story

We don't hit animals, so why do we hit children?
Link

Why This Blog is Important

2006-11-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

I don't "drive traffic" to this blog. Occasionally I will put it in rotation on Blog Explosion, but for the most part people find this blog through Google searches for terms like:

"blog about rebellious child"
"alternatives to spanking"
"facts about corporal punishment"
"does spanking cause aggressive behavior in children?"
"christian parenting"
"how can I stop hitting my child"

If searches like that are bringing people here, where they can read FACTS about what corporal punishment really is and what it does to a child's psyche, I feel that the blog is doing its job.

Thank you, especially, to The Lawrences for all their hard work to save children from barbaric punishment in the name of "Jesus".

Another Horrific Case of "Discipline" in the Name of Jesus

2006-11-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Perhaps you have heard of the hideous torture of 4 year old Aiyana, confined to an unheated garage, starved, tied up and beaten to death: link. Notice the murderer smiling and holding a Bible.

Please email the Court Magistrate where the parents of Aiyana are being tried for her murder: magistrate@county.tippecanoe.in.us

Here is a sample letter:
________________________

Dear Court Magistrate,

I am horrified by the case of 4 year old Aiyana Gauvin being tortured and beaten to death. Her stepmother, Michelle Gauvin, has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole, and I ask that no appeals to this conviction be granted. She has proven beyond any doubt that she is dangerous to society, and deserves no freedom to have access to children again.

The father of Aiyana, Christian Gauvin, will be sentenced soon. I ask that he receive the maximum number of years in prison, for cruel torture of his own daughter, for confining her to an unheated garage, for tying her up for lengthy periods, for denying her food, for beating her repeatedly, and for being an accomplice in her murder.

Thank you,
(your name)
_________________________

Thank you everyone for writing!! We must speak out about these horrors, we must show we care!!
Susan Lawrence
Director, Stop the Rod
http://stoptherod.net
http://parentinginjesusfootsteps.org

Take Action in Canada!

2006-10-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

A pro-spanking Canadian lawyer, David Brown, has recently been appointed to the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto. Brown defended Dobson's Focus on the Family, which recommends beating children as young as 15 months and using wooden boards and belts to hit little children, in their fight against Canada's Supreme Court decision to limit child-hitting. Please protest the appointment of this pro-hitting lawyer, by writing Canada's Dept. of Justice at webadmin@justice.gc.ca Here is a sample letter:

Dear Department of Justice,

I object strongly to the appointment of David Brown to the Ontario Superior Court, and hope this decision is reversed as soon as possible. David Brown is well known to defend hitting children, an outdated practice that has been proven to increase aggression and violent acts, and which is at the root of the majority of child abuse cases. Mr. Brown should not be in a position of authority in which he could promote violence and abuse.

Sincerely,
(your name)
------------

STILL MORE NEWS
The Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts, which we protested earlier this year, has been fined $43,000!! They were claiming to have a number of "psychologists" on their staff, who turned out not to be licensed!! The Rotenberg Center tortures children with painful skin shocks, withholding food, and other means of punishment. See this article and this one.

Thanks again to:

Susan Lawrence
Director, Stop the Rod

Contact Rep. Nancy Johnson

2006-10-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Susan Lawrence for the following information

Dear Friends,

Please call one of these toll-free numbers (FREE!) for Congress, and ask for Representative Nancy Johnson's office:

800-828-0498
800-862-5530

Once you reach her office, please say:

"I am very concerned about devices being sold to beat and whip children. I am asking Representative Nancy Johnson to keep her promise to co-sponsor legislation to ban these devices."

If they ask which aide is dealing with this issue, say:

"Mr. Shane Lieberman knows about this legislation, and I ask him to contact Jeff Duncan at Representative Markey's office, who has been working hard on this legislation." (You can leave a message on Shane's answering machine as well, asking him to contact Jeff Duncan.)

If you're outside the US, you can call Representative Nancy Johnson's office at: (202) 225-4476. Thank you everyone if you can do this!! It's important to get this legislation moving before it's forgotten!!

Susan Lawrence
Director, Stop the Rod
http://stoptherod.net
http://parentinginjesusfootsteps.org

You Can Help!!!

2006-09-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

From our good friend Susan Lawrence:

"Dear Friends,

The legislation against devices to beat children is making progress, and is in its final draft form, worked on by me, my lawyer, Congress and their aides.

Meanwhile, Child Training Resources contiues to sell baby-whipping books and devices to whip babies with, while claiming to me and others that they are "out of business". Let's tell them to close down for good!! Please write them at shaymond@juno.com Here is a sample letter:
---------------------------------
Dear Child Training Resources,

I am glad you have decided to close your website. However, I don't understand why you are saying you are out of business, when just last week you were willing to sell people your devices to whip babies. Please stop selling books recommending gross child abuse such as the book "To Train Up a Child", and the cruel blue baby-whips you manufacture.

Congress has taken note of your business, and is presently fine tuning legislation to ban devices to beat and whip children. I quote:

SECTION 1. BAN ON CERTAIN DEVICES SOLD OR MARKETED FOR USE AGAINST CHILDREN.

(a) CONGRESSIONAL FINDING.--Congress finds that hitting or whipping devices sold or marketed for the purpose of hitting or whipping children present an unreasonable risk of injury and that no feasible consumer product safety standard issued under the Consumer Product Safety Act would adequately protect the public from the unreasonable risk of injury associated with such products.

(b) BANNED PRODUCT.--Hitting or whipping devices sold or marketed specifically for the purpose of hitting or whipping children shall be considered banned hazardous products under section 8 of the Consumer Product Safety Act and shall be prohibited for sale or distribution in interstate commerce under section 19 of such Act.

Sincerely,
(your name)
--------------------------------

Thank you everyone!! We are making progress!!"

Susan Lawrence
Director, Stop the Rod
Stop the Rod
Parenting in Jesus' Footsteps

2006-08-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Child Training Tips by Reb Bradley

“Child Training Tips” is a despotic child abuse manual. It is based on Fugate’s book, “What the Bible Says…About Child Training” and contains the same baby-whipping advice for absolute submission to the parents, by crushing the child’s will.

In “Child Training Tips” Bradley insults children by calling them savage, depraved, ungrateful, selfish, self-centered, willful, demanding, sassy, smart-mouthed, lazy, disrespectful, rebellious, murderous, dirty, born delinquent, with “no morals” and a “depraved nature”.

No age is too young for “the rod” and Bradley advocates very early use, whipping infants 1 year of age of younger (p.133). Please write a review of this baby-whipping book on Amazon!

Here are more quotes from this vicious book (see especially pages 129-187):

p.17 “The Hebrew idea of rearing children was to bring them up to maturity by twisting them against their nature. Twisting requires firm effort, sustained throughout their childhood.” p.18 “One dangerous idea which has crept into the Church, is that children are basically good” p.19 “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child…foolishness does not mean childish immaturity of silliness, but rather perversity, which spawns deviousness, defiance, and rebellion.”

p.28-29 “The parent who indulges self-will does the devil’s work…and damns his child, soul and body forever.” A child’s will should be “subdued in the first few years of life”.

p.35 “Children must learn while they are still toddlers to obey their parents quickly and without resistance, and to endure hard situations humbly.” “They can learn as early as possible to die to themselves.”

p.41 The author says don’t do any “explaining and apologizing for disciplinary actions” and no “rubbing (the child’s) little bottom immediately after a spanking”. Only “intimidated parents…allow children to freely express their opinions, complaints, and criticisms regarding family decisions.

p.42-43 “To gain respect, parents must cause their children to obey their word. A parent in charge of the home speaks a command one time, calmly and clearly, and is obeyed.” “Do not allow your child to argue with you.” “Aim primarily for (the children’s) respect—not their affection.”

p.44-45 “We are not answerable or accountable to our children.” “Require quick obedience. Teach your children to obey without being told ‘why’”. “Our children must learn as toddlers that we will not attempt to talk them into obedience.”

p.48 Older children “must learn to humbly accept parental directions without always knowing the reasons why. Give them a time period for demonstrating quiet, humble obedience (perhaps 6-8 weeks), during which all parental commands will be given without reasons, and no appeals will be considered.” p.52-55 “A good motto to teach them is, ‘Obey first. Ask questions later.’” “Never give instructions more than once.” “Repeating instructions is a form of coddling.”

p.58 Children “should not be permitted to offer an excuse.”

p.62 “Whenever possible, an unruly child should be taken somewhere private and disciplined, where others will not be disturbed.”

p.64 “Chastisement communicates the idea of making clean by punishment with a rod."

p.65-67 “God tells parents that they are not to withhold spankings from their children, for they help accomplish a soul-saving work.” “The rod is God’s only means of subduing the self-will and rebellion that resides in every child. It is a quick, simple way of teaching obedience.” “It is often a self-serving love that makes parents refrain from spanking, or causes them to mete out soft disciplines and indulge their children. That kind of parental ‘kindness’ is harmful.”

p.69 “A child who is not spanked can hardly be called a son or daughter."

p.69 “That society which does away with corporal punishment will raise undisciplined, self-consumer young people…Sweden and Denmark…are now reported to have the highest teen suicide rates in the world.” [This is false! Sweden’s youth suicide rates have gone down since banning corporal punishment.]

p.71 “Chastisement draws a parent and child together.” !!!

p.73 “The chastisement is not over until a child is humble…when his will is submitted to his parents.” “If after a time of chastisement, a child lacks proper humility, the chastisement obviously did not work, and should be repeated a second time.”

p.74-75 “Any child who knowingly or willfully disobeys is in rebellion and needs chastisement. It is not the fact that they only took a crumb of cake after they were told not to touch it—it is that they intentionally disobeyed you.” “A rebellious child is one who resists his parents’ efforts to direct his life.”

p.76-81 Forms of “rebellion” that deserve a whipping:

Tantrums.
“The child moves his shoulder away when a parent reaches out to touch or embrace him.” “After being placed on their parent’s lap, they attempt to get off.”

“While being held in their parent’s arms a toddler struggles to get down.”

“Sulking, grumbling, whining, pouting, angry door slamming, glaring, silence”

A 3-year old saying “But I don’t want a shower. I don’t want a shower” when he’s being given a shower.

When a child “does not come exactly when called; walks slowly”

Leaving “the room while parent is in mid-sentence or during a pause between sentences.”

“Keeps inching his way to the door before he’s been dismissed.”

A toddler “unrolling the toilet paper”.

“Violating unspoken rules.”

Doing chores, but “not by parents’ established standards.”

Give an extra whipping if “children lie to get out of trouble.”

FOOD
p.83 “If older children are lazy or irresponsible in work, they repeat the chore, get extra jobs, or miss the next meal.”
p.84 “If dinner is eaten too slowly or complained about, declare dinner over, take it away and give it to them for breakfast the next morning.” “If they are unthankful for what is ordered for them at a restaurant, cancel their order and allow them only water.”p.88 “If they complain about bread crusts, do not cut them off their sandwiches.” “Do not feed them every time they claim to be hungry. Children around the world learn to live daily with hunger pangs. Our children can certainly endure them for an hour.”p.92 “If you say, ‘Eat the rest of it,’ and they leave half of it, you must bring a consequence.” p.145 “Parents should require children to eat food prepared for them: requiring them to receive the food their parents have chosen for them teaches them to submit to parental authority.”

p.87 If a child is bored, say “I’m glad to hear you are bored. You will find as you grow older that life is full of boring moments, so it is important for you to get used to enduring boredom now.”
p.89 “When they are upset, do not allow them to cry uncontrollably for as long as desired.” p.109 Don’t be “manipulated” by “an intense outburst of crying in a child.”
p.91 “Children must not be allowed to interrupt parental discussions, and offer their opinions without permission or invitation.” “Do not always allow them to decide what they will order at restaurants. On occasion, exercise your parental prerogative of ordering for everyone.”
p.104 “Life is about responsibility, not gratification and pleasure.”
p.124 “It is appropriate for children to call for their parents to come to them in emergency situations, but not to look at a plaything they constructed.” “Unless it is an emergency, children should never be permitted to criticize those over them in authority…ie, If you are telling your spouse about an incident that happened last week, when your child interrupts your conversation to declare that the incident happened not last week, but 2 weeks ago, they are correcting you and should reap a disciplinary consequence.”
p.125-126 “Sass is any response to an adult statement that is given without permission or invitation.” “Sass is any response except Yes Dad, Yes Mom, May I appeal? or some other respectful request for permission for further discussion."
p.129 “The general rule for our children: If you have not been granted authority, do not make decisions on your own. If it does not belong to you, do not touch it. If you have not secured permission, do not offer your opinion.”
p.133 A baby “who struggles to get down from your arms should not be rewarded. Be sure to say “No” and hold him tight until he stops struggling.”
p.133 Babies are “capable of understanding correction by 1 year of age.” “If they can understand you, they can be trained to obey you.” “By 9 months old, children may not understand all your words, but most can read your tone and manner. They understand a firm ‘No,’ perfectly.”
p.134 “To test a toddler’s understanding of your vocabulary, without showing him anything, offer him a familiar treat, like ice cream or a bottle. Does he respond? If he does, then he is old enough to understand a simple direction such as, ‘Come here, son,’ and should be chastised each time that he chooses to defy your authority.”
p.137-138 “The parent must apply the same principle of child training to the special needs child as to any child:

Work to subdue the will.
Bring it into complete subjection to yours as early in their life as possible.
“A.D.D. is no excuse for a lack of self-control.” (3 of the author’s 6 children had ADD or ADHD!)

p.141 “Rather than waiting until Sunday morning and using a church worship service to teach a child to sit still, it is helpful to have them practice at home—not as punishment, but as a training exercise to help them get their little bodies under control. Pull up a chair and have them sit quietly for increasing increments of time. Try 5 minutes the first day, 10 the second, 15 the third, and so on. Chastise them each time they get down without permission. Start when they are toddlers and you will be amazed at what they are capable. This is a very simple means of teaching them first-time obedience.

p.142 “A child who is learning to submit his will to his parents should be required to respond… ‘Yes, Mom’ or ‘Yes, Dad,’; ‘I will obey you, Dad’; ‘I will stay in bed, Dad.’ Children can respond with anything you require of them, like my wife’s favorite: ‘Yes, Mother, most beautiful among women.’”

p.142-3 “If you want your toddlers to learn to obey your word, set 10 minutes aside each day to train them to obey your voice. Then find them in the house and call them to come to you. Speak to them calmly, and only one time. If they do not come, walk over, pick them up, look them in the eye, and say, ‘When Mommy or Daddy speaks to you, you must obey,’ and then administer proper chastisement. Place them down on the floor where they were, walk away from them, and call them again. Repeat the process until they come each time.”

p.153 Don’t “cease a time of chastisement before it has produced humility.”

p.179 “Do not permit ANY unkind words in your family, ie: no derogatory names.” [(Huh??? What about the author calling children “savage, depraved, dirty” etc. (see top of page)???]

p.187 If parents feel they have been “slack in their parenting” they should “plan for the possibility of several intense days of frequent chastisement. You may even consider limiting outside commitments for several days or taking a few days off from work, so you can devote yourself fully to consistent discipline.”

Please write a review of this soul-crushing child torture manual on Amazon.

Thank you!!

Thanks to The Lawrences of Stop the Rod.

"Facts of Life" Actress' Child Abuse Manual

2006-07-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks once again to The Lawrences for the heads-up about this book. Actress Lisa Welchel is cashing in on some really disgusting child-rearing (and I use that term loosely) practices. From the Lawrences website:

"Creative Correction: Extraordinary Ideas for Everyday Discipline" by Lisa Whelchel

In this bizaare and abuse-filled book, former actress Lisa Whelchel calls children these cruel names: ankle-biter, pests, “a handful”, raucous, haphazard, messy, pesky, hyenas, arrogant, and “filled with schemes to do wrong.” Yet on p.193 the author says name-calling isn’t allowed in her house!

Denigration of children is coupled with bribes of money and sweets, and a menu of frequent and various punishments. And although hitting is supposedly “not allowed” in the author’s house (p.193), and she claims she “isn’t violent” (p.170), she frequently spanks her 3 children. Her prescription for hitting is on p.183-185. Other, “creative” boot-camp style tortures are recommended on p.146-161.

Apparently all these “Creative Corrections” don’t even work, since on p.274 Whelchel admits “My kids still act up and disobey” and spanking “didn’t work” on her son Tucker (p.171) Whelchel says her grandmother asked her not to spank (p.157). This book is recommended by Focus on the Family.

Please write a review!!
Amazon review page
Barnes & Noble review page

Here are more quotes from this “creative” child abuse manual:

p.xiv Whelchel’s son, “Tucker, like all of us…comes by his sin naturally. In fact, the roots of misbehavior can be traced all the way back to Adam.” (This is said after describing Tucker being noisy and climbing rails. Tucker has ADHD.)
p.5 Whelchel talks to a fellow actress and “was tempted to slap her with a wet wipe.”
p.18 After Whelchel’s son says his half-naked father looks like he’s “about to die on the cross like Jesus”, she claims: “Our children closely identify us with God.”
p.22 “All children are born with foolishness bound up in their hearts.” “When we allow our children to determine the outcome of a situation, even subtly, it weakens their trust in us.”
p.25 “I grew up in the South, where I was taught to reply, ‘Yes, sir’ or ‘Yes, ma’am’ when following instruction.”
p.26 “King Solomon, who was the wisest man who ever lived.” (What happened to Jesus?)
p.27 “Disobedience comes in many forms, including whining.”
p.28 “Teaching our children to obey us and our words is primarily to teach them to obey God and His Word.” “Because the rules I’m instilling are God’s, I no longer have to respond with ‘Because I’m the mom. That’s why!’ I can calmly tell my kids, ‘Honey, I didn’t make up these rules, God did.”
p.58 “discipline the flesh” p.59 “correcting the flesh” p.62 “bodily discipline”
p.75 Whelchel approves of filling a boy’s room with manure!
p.79 “God…loves us too much to let us go unpunished.”
p.99 “Stealing a cookie from the jar when Mom isn’t looking is easily punishable with a slap on the hand.”
p.101 “Whatever we deny our children now is for their good later.”

p.109 Bribes: her son with baseball cards, her daughter with pennies. p.113 Chuck E Cheese tokens, stickers, toys. p.114 Trip to McDonald’s for a “Happy Meal”, chocolate chips. p.115-116 ice cream, fruity cereal, fruit salad, pie, gumballs, candy, money. p.120 pencils, soda pop, sleeping with mom and dad for one night, going to a Saturday matinee, choosing the next pizza topping, having a pillow fight, going to work with Dad, eating dessert first, or receiving a “get out of jail free” (correction) card. p.123 More bribes: videos, decoration for child’s bedroom, necklace, gold earrings.

p.121 If a child forgets to say “thank you” for candy, they “must give the candy to Mom and Dad.”
p.133 Talks of “molding” children, using “screwdriver” “hammer” and “sandpaper” techniques.
p.134 Whelchel claims the “Holy Spirit” gives her ideas on “what tool to use” on her children.
p.135 “The hearts of our children are ‘filled with schemes to do wrong’” “Next time they act up in public, shock them by leaving your half-full shopping cart and taking them directly to the car for correction.”
p.136 “We need to develop and enforce in our children a habit of obedience the first time. It may take some cracking down in the beginning.” “If you’ve established boundaries ahead of time and consequences for crossing them, be prepared to follow through.”
p.137 “One effective correction is to rescind the privilege of playing with friends. Unfortunately, this punishes the friends, too…for example, last month, Tucker lost the privilege of playing with his friend Josiah after school because he told the baby-sitter no when she ordered him to his room. This upset Josiah terribly, because he had been waiting all week for this day.”
p.138 “As we walk along together shopping, I will suddenly give them silly commands that they must obey without arguing, such as ‘Walk backward,’ or ‘Stop and touch your toes,’ or ‘Give me a kiss.’ Occasionally I’ll throw in a real command, like ‘Don’t touch that,’ or ‘No, you may not have an Icee.’ My favorite curve, however, is to say no to some reasonable request, like ‘May I go to the bathroom?’”
p.139 “Administering real correction—punishing a child when she has disobeyed—has to hurt a little to be effective, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring.”
p.143 “Here’s a solution for a perpetually messy bedroom: Explain to your child, ‘I cannot bear to look at this room anymore—it’s too messy! I’m going to turn off the circuit breaker so I can’t see it. When it’s clean enough for me to tolerate, let me know and I’ll turn your power back on.’”
p.143-144 “Having a struggle at bedtime? Try this: Next time you’re dealing with the usual bathroom trips, cups of water, giggling, and talking, call off bedtime. Declare, ‘Nobody has to go to bed tonight!’ Inform them that they may stay up as long as they like—the operative words being stay up. Then have each child stand still in the middle of a separate room of the house.”
p.145 “I heard of a single father who served five plain Brussels sprouts to his picky eaters. They had 10 minutes to eat them or they would get the remaining eight in the pot. This made such an impact on them that he only needed to refer to the ‘brussels sprout’ punishment when the children were tempted to complain about their meals again. When our kids don’t want to eat what I’ve cooked for dinner, Steve and I won’t make it an issue. They don’t have to eat it as long as they’ve tried at least one bite. If they refuse to do even that, however, they just go hungry.”
p.157 “Two summers ago I drove with the kids, my mother, and my grandmother in a camper from California to Texas. My grandmother, ‘Nanny,’ asked me not to spank the children while on the trip because it upset her.”
p.170 “I received plenty of spankings growing up, and I’ve never felt tempted to get violent because of them” ???????? p.172 “I am grateful for the gift of spanking.”
p.171 “As I hinted in the first chapter, the whole catalyst for this book—fueling my need for creative correction—came when my son was about six or seven years old. Suddenly, spankings, so effective in the past, just didn’t work on him anymore. They actually made things worse. It didn’t matter how calmly and lovingly I administered the spanking; it would send Tucker even further out of control, and we would both end up crying.”
p.193 “These are the ground rules at our house: No hitting (!), biting, kicking, pulling hair, or any other forms of physical retaliation. No name-calling (!), humiliating, sarcasm, or verbally wounding another person. No stealing, destroying, or borrowing personal property without permission. Breaking these rules will result in laps, pushups, interrogation, or solitary confinement—sometimes literally!”
p.203 “Require the two siblings to go ‘toe to toe.’ Have each child face the other with their toes touching; they must remain that way until they’re no longer angry.” “Use a pair of toy handcuffs to join two siblings who can’t seem to get along. It’s really fun to watch them try to eat dinner like this, or read a book, or take the garbage out, tasks I’ll often assign them.” “Hugs, even forced ones, are good at breaking down barriers.” “Make each child stand at opposite ends of the yard. Then have them yell ‘I love you!’ back and forth 20 times.”
p.206 “If you have a son who insists on getting physical to solve disputes, buy him a pair of boxing gloves. The next time things begin to ‘come to blows,’ pull out the gloves and put them on the boy. Don’t allow him to take them off for the rest of the day. This makes simple tasks like eating dinner, brushing one’s teeth, and putting on pajamas rather difficult. You can even cook popcorn for an after-dinner snack. (Be sure to pull out the video camera!)
p.207 “If they are unable to cooperate with one another, they must play in the backyard, whether it’s 30 degrees or 100 degrees outside.”
p.208 “Got any old hand or ankle weights in the garage? Have your child wear them around his ankles or carry them around for the day as punishment for being a bad example to a younger sibling.”
p.209 “Tie the arguing siblings’ ankles together as though they’re in a three-legged race, and don’t let them part until the issue is resolved or dropped.”
p.209 Whelchel turns this verse upside down: “Proverbs 17:1—‘Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.’ This verse works wonders for bickering at the dinner table. Simply remove the dinner plates of the arguing siblings and replace them with the heels of the bread loaf, served on a napkin.”
p.244 “A wise parent will let her children stumble and fall.”
p.265 Sample prayer for a child “Dear God, Thank you that my parents love me and that because they love me, they correct me when I sin. Thank you that the spankings drive out the foolishness in my heart.”
p.276 Her children “are not allowed to leave their rooms in the morning before 7:00, even if they wake up earlier.”
p.287 At 8:15pm, after Whelchel’s daughter has gone to bed, she “comes downstairs, complaining of having ‘cranky legs’. I tell her she’s going to have a ‘cranky bottom’ if she doesn’t stay in bed.”

Please write a review of this “creative” child abuse manual at Amazon
Write a review at Barnes & Noble

Want to write to Lisa Whelchel directly? First, go to her website. Then click on “sign up for my monthly newsletter” at the top right of the page. Then, click on “Email” on the right. There you will see “Coffee Talk” where you can write to Whelchel.

THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THIS ABUSE MANUAL!!!"

Please Visit Our Sponsor

2006-07-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

Our tenant (sidebar) "Primal Mommies" is worthy of a visit. I want to thank her for supporting our efforts here, and by doing so acknowledging the importance of the cause.

Most of the traffic to this site comes from Google searches (and other search engines), often people looking up terms like "alternatives to spanking" or "effective discipline" or "benefits of spanking". To me, even if someone is searching for the benefits of spanking and it brings them here...that's a step in the right direction. They will find a lot of information about why spanking is NOT effective, and is nothing more than a breakdown in parental self-control.

So please, visit Primal Mommies and let her know that you appreciate her sponsorship of our site.

Another Child "Disciplined" and Dead

2006-06-29T03:50:00.000-07:00

Girl's Mother Charged With Manslaughter

By BRADLEY HOPE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 29, 2006

The mother of a 3-year-old girl who died in Brooklyn on Tuesday has been charged with manslaughter and assault after the Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death a homicide, police officials said yesterday.

The mother of Kiana Rosado, Jessica Rosado, 18, was placed under arrest yesterday evening, police said. She was charged by police with manslaughter in the first and second degrees, criminally negligent homicide, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Rosado had blunt impact injuries to the torso and suffered lacerations to her liver and major blood vessels, a spokeswoman for the Medical Examiner, Ellen Borakove, said. She also had injuries at different stages of healing, Ms. Borakove said.

When paramedics came to the apartment on Tuesday morning, they found Rosado struggling to breathe. She was covered with bruises on her neck, back, and head, police said. A neighbor said Ms. Rosado told her that her daughter had fallen down and wouldn't wake up. She later said that she had given her Benadryl to help her sleep.

Rosado was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens later that morning.

Police sources disclosed yesterday that the girl's mother had a history with the Administration for Children's Services, involving her own mother. A spokeswoman for ACS declined to comment because of privacy laws. There was no previous case regarding Ms. Rosado and her daughter, police said.

Ms. Rosado's boyfriend, Ruben Pagan, 23, with whose child she is seven months pregnant, is not thought to be involved with any abuse of the 3-year-old girl, police said. He was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child and possession of marijuana. Both were expected to be arraigned this morning.

Suffer Little Children: US Evangelists are Twisting the Bible to say that Beating the Young is Christian Doctrine

2006-06-11T03:46:00.000-07:00

by Giles Fraser, The Guardian (UK) June 8, 2006

Pretty much all I remember from my prep school are the beatings: that lonely wait outside the headmaster's study; the cane, the slipper, the table tennis bat. I remember my underpants filled with blood. I remember seething with frustration when they beat my brother. My mother had asked me to look after him. But there was nothing I could do as he was led towards the study in his little tartan dressing gown.

That was 30 years ago, but in time measured out by the psyche it was yesterday. Thank God such things are now illegal. But there remain those determined to turn back the clock. "We are told that in England it is a crime to spank children," writes Debbi Pearl from No Greater Joy Ministries, following a row that has erupted over the distribution of their literature in the UK. "Therefore Christians are not able to openly obey God in regard to biblical chastisement. They are in danger of having the state steal their children."

The Pearls are evangelical Christians who believe corporal punishment is "doing it God's way". With a mailing list of tens of thousands of parents, the Pearls say that the justification for their approach is in scripture: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes" (Proverbs 13:24).

Chastening begins early. "For the under-one-year-old, a little, 10- to 12-inch long, willowy branch (stripped of any knots that might break the skin) about one-eighth inch diameter is sufficient," writes Michael Pearl. With older children he advises: "After a short explanation about bad attitudes and the need to love, patiently and calmly apply the rod to his backside. Somehow, after eight or 10 licks, the poison is transformed into gushing love and contentment. The world becomes a beautiful place. A brand-new child emerges. It makes an adult stare at the rod in wonder, trying to see what magic is contained therein."

It's incredible to me that books such as this are readily available on Amazon; it is little short of incitement to child abuse. What makes the whole thing doubly sick is that it's done in the name of God. Apparently, the "proper application of the rod is essential to the Christian world-view". Note "essential". Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. For, as evangelicals, the Pearls believe that salvation only comes through punishment and pain. God punishes his Son with crucifixion so that humanity might not have to face the Father's anger. This image of God the father, for whom violence is an expression of tough love, is lodged deep in the evangelical imagination. And it twists a religion of forgiveness and compassion into something dark and cruel.

It's terrifying how deep this teaching penetrates into a philosophy of child rearing. Just as divine anger is deemed to be provoked by the original sin of human disobedience, the beating of children is seen as punishment for rebellion. According to Ted Tripp, in his monstrous bestseller Shepherding a Child's Heart, even babies who struggle while having their nappy changed are deemed to be rebellious and need punishment.

Last month Lynn Paddock of North Carolina was charged with the murder of her four-year-old son, Sean. She had apparently beaten him with a length of quarter-inch plumbing line - plastic tubing. Like many in her church, Paddock had turned to the Pearls' resources on Biblical parenting. The Pearls say chastisement with plumbing line is "a real attention getter". Sean Paddock's autopsy describes layers of bruises stretching from his bottom to his shoulder.

What Jesus said about those who would harm children comes inevitably to mind: "It would be better for them if a millstone was hanged about their neck, and that they were drowned in the depth of the sea."

· Dr Giles Fraser is the vicar of Putney and a lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford . giles.fraser@btinternet.com

The Power of Peace

2006-05-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

Maybe if this book were being handed out after childbirth, more parents would understand that spanking is neither effective nor necessary. Peace, kids.

A Multi-pronged Approach to Ending Physical Punishment of Children in the United States

2006-05-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

From the EPOCH website:

Individuals have a moral responsibility and a role in ending physical punishment of children.
We must resolve not to hit our own children and to be knowledgeable about positive alternatives to physical punishment.
We should use terms that reflect the real nature of physical punishment like "hitting" rather than euphemisms like "swats" or "pops".

In our professional roles, we should tell parents and caretakers not to hit children and provide alternatives.
We should support legal and educational reforms that lead to ending physical punishment of children.
Educational Institutions and Professional Organizations have a role in ending physical punishment of Children

Teacher Education, Social Work, Criminal Justice, Counseling, Nursing, medical education and all human services programs should integrate knowledge about the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives into the curricula.
All professional organizations should have a position statement opposing the physical punishment of children and work for and support public policy and legal reform which leads to the elimination of physical punishment of children.
States and Communities have role in ending physical punishment of children.

Physical punishment in schools should be banned.
Programs on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives should be part of required training for teachers, staff and students in public schools.
Programs on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives should be available and accessible to all parents.

All professionals with mandated reporting responsibility for child abuse should have appropriate training in the negative effects of physical punishment of children and the benefits of positive alternatives.
State laws should be reformed to make it a misdemeanor to strike a child.
The federal government can help end physical punishment of children.

The Senate should ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Surgeon General should establish a national blue ribbon task force on physical punishment of children and begin an educational campaign to end its use in all settings including homes.
Congress should require the prohibition of physical punishment in all laws regarding schools; foster care, institutional care and child care as a condition of federal funding.
All federally funded parent education programs should provide training on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives.
Child abuse prevention grants should require that state programs focus activities on eliminating parental physical punishment of children and supporting positive alternatives.

Adopted by the EPOCH-USA Advisory Board, June 2005.

2006-04-08T04:48:00.000-07:00

What is SpankOut Day, USA?
"Raising Responsible (Good) Kids Without Hitting"

SpankOut Day USA was initiated in 1998 to give widespread attention to the need to end corporal punishment of children and to promote non-violent ways of teaching children appropriate behavior. EPOCH-USA (End Physical Punishment of Children) sponsors SpankOut Day USA on April 30th of each year. All parents, guardians, and caregivers are encouraged to refrain from hitting children on this day, and to seek alternative methods of discipline through programs available in community agencies, churches and schools.

Since 1998, over 500 informational events on child discipline have been carried out by organizations on SpankOut Day USA. Hundreds of individuals have participated in this observance.

Here's what people say about SpankOut Day USA:

"We need to support SpankOut Day USA because non-violent discipline is the only way to model the kind of behavior we want our children to emulate, thus significantly reducing violence in our society."

Barbara Nicholson
President of Attachment Parenting International, Nashville, TN
"We need to support SpankOut Day USA because every human being, above all every child, has the absolute right to bodily integrity, a right which is long overdue to become law."

Victoria S., Baltimore, MD
"We need to support SpankOut Day USA because spanking is an inappropriate method of discipline in a civilized society. Intimidation and fear are not effective teachers; knowledge and love are."

Sherri D., Hillsboro, MO
"Would Jesus of Nazareth sanction spanking? Not the Jesus I know! This is the Jesus who taught non-violence and warned against anger and getting even. The Jesus who had compassion for children when adults wanted to shove them aside. To sense the innocence of children, Jesus said, is to glimpse the kingdom of God. Hitting kids remains the favorite activity of some who call themselves Christian. But to engage in this ugly practice, I am convinced, is to trivialize both the words and the example of the One who calls Christians to a new way of living. SpankOut Day USA is a good day to ponder these truths. For people of faith, every day should be SpankOut Day."

The Rev. Thomas E. Sagendorf, United Methodist Pastor.
"Smacking or spanking, the beating of children, is a dangerous lesson in bad behavior. Children, like the rest of us, have a right not to be hit or humiliated. Most parents who hit their children deeply regret it. Smacking hurts children - and not just physically. The aim of a no-hitting day is to get parents to stop and to think about it; to recognize that there are many positive and non-violent ways to encourage the behavior they want from their children; and to realize they never need to hit a child again."

Peter Newell, Joint Coordinator of the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, London, England
"In l979, Sweden became the first country to end all corporal punishment of children. In the beginning, the Swedish government decided it was important to educate the public about the bad effects of corporal punishment and to help parents and child minders learn about effective alternatives. For countries that have not ended all corporal punishment of children, a no-hitting day is an opportunity for concerned organizations and individuals to promote positive discipline of children and to call for an end to corporal punishment."

Mali Nilsson
Programme Officer on Corporal Punishment
Save the Children Sweden
"We need to support SpankOut Day USA because we believe in the goodness of children and that they are gifts from our God."

Denise R., Columbus, OH

Why This Blog is Effective

2006-03-31T04:43:00.000-08:00

As some already know, I have disable comments on this blog. That's because it seems the people who really want to hit their children harbor so much anger that the concept of NOT being able to do that infuriates them. That rage was directed at me. This is not a debate forum. It's a place to get educated about why it is wrong to hit children (duh), how to raise children without violence, and what is being done by various grassroots organizations to protect kids from their parents and caregivers.

The MAJORITY of traffic to this site comes from search engines, where people are searching for terms like "effects of corporal punishment" and "nixmary brown" and "corporal punishment in schools". I find it very satisfying to see so many people doing this type of research on the web, and happy that it takes them here.

I will continue to update, infuriate, but most of all... educate.

Excepts from "Shepherding a Child's Heart"

2006-03-31T04:38:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from "Shepherding a Child's Heart" here by Ted Tripp

Also ... another excerpt from the Shepherding a Child's Heart follows:

On p.151-152 the whipping routine is described in gory detail:

1) Take the child to a private place
2) Make the child confess to his/her sins
3) Tell them how many times they'll be flogged
4) Pull down his/her pants or diaper
5) Whip them until they become sweet
6) Do the whipping over your lap
7) Then pull your child up onto your lap and tell them you love them.

I'm sure you can go into any maximum security prison and interview some inmates who can describe this childhood memory in graphic detail.

Please write a negative review of this book on Amazon.com and ask them to remove it. It violates their Terms of Service.

I Love Amazon but....

2006-03-23T04:36:00.000-08:00

...got this from The Lawrences and it bears attention:

"Dear Friends,

I think it's time to complain to Amazon about selling baby-whipping books! Barnes & Noble had the decency to stop selling 4 of them, let's ask Amazon to do the same!

Please write your comments in
this box (scroll to bottom of page).

[I would also suggest checking the box that says these products violate Amazon's terms of service, because they do]

Here is a sample letter:

Dear Amazon, please stop selling the following books that recommend whipping infants under 1 year of age:

1) "To Train Up a Child" by Michael & Debi Pearl
p.9 Whipping infants as young as 4 months with wooden sticks and plastic pipes on their bare skin. Parents have been investigated by Child Protective Services, children have been taken away from parents, a restraining order against a father, and even a babysitter has gone to jail on felony charges for following the Pearl's baby-whipping advice. A mother beat her children and killed her son after following the Pearl's baby-whipping advice. Link to story.

2) "Child Training Tips" by Reb Bradley
p.133 Beating a baby 1 year old or younger with a "rod"

3) "What the Bible Says about Child Training" by Richard Fugate
p.173-4 Fugate says some children "require enough strokes to receive stripes or even welts" and parents should not be concerned about bruising their child. p.177 Fugate recommends whipping babies starting when they can crawl, with a "balloon stick, willow or peach tree branch, blackboard pointer, or 1/8" dowel rod."

4) "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp
p.154 Tripp says 8 months old is old enough for a baby to be beaten with a "rod" on their bare skin.

These books recommend blatant child abuse. Until you stop selling them, I will no longer buy items at Amazon.

Sincerely, (your name)
----------------------
Thank you everyone!! You can also call Amazon at 1-(800)-201-7575.

Here is a British website boycotting Amazon: http://intothesunrise.blogspot.com/

Susan Lawrence
http://stoptherod.net
http://parentinginjesusfootsteps.org"

A How-To Book for Child Abusers

2006-03-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

Please contact Amazon.com and tell them to follow Barnes & Noble's lead: Stop selling this book.

My friend Susan Lawrence from Stop the Rod has alerted us:

"What the Bible Says...About Child Training" by Richard Fugate is the worst baby-whipping book I've ever read. Fugate recommends whipping infants 6 months old and younger, and beating children up to 20 years old with wooden dowel rods. He doesn't spare disabled children either, describing beating a deaf boy and one with cerebral palsy. He also writes that "parents should not be overly concerned" if the beatings cause welts and bruises (p.174)!!

Chapter 17, which goes into frightening detail about how to beat infants and children, is printed here: This chapter pretty much sums up the nature of the book, beat a child from age 0 to 20 with "rods", for any "act of rebellion". They are "sinful, dirty and selfish", and the parents have the right to demand instant obedience and total control, whether the parents' requests are right or wrong!!

This monstrous book is sold by the baby-whipping company "Child Training Resources". You can complain to them for selling this sickening child-abuse manual at shaymond@juno.com This book is no longer sold by Barnes & Noble.

Thank you everyone, for caring about children!!"

Massachusetts Bloggers!!

2006-02-24T05:53:00.000-08:00

The Massachusetts bill to define hitting & hot-saucing children as abuse is at a crucial point!! The Department of Social Services (DSS) is considering TODAY whether to support it or not. If they decide to support it, it will have a decent chance of success!! Please write to the Commissioner of DSS, Harry Spence, at harry.spence@state.ma.us

Here is a sample letter:

Dear Commissioner Spence,

I am writing to urge DSS to support HB 1787, An Act Concerning Corporal Punishment of Children, submitted by the Massachusetts Committee to End Corporal Punishment of Children. This bill will help reduce the incidence of corporal punishment of children. It will also help change society's attitudes toward corporal punishment. As you know, corporal punishment is a very serious problem in Massachusetts, and is an exacerbating factor in problems such as drug addiction, depression, and violent crimes.

Thank you for your consideration,

(Your name, add your address if you're from Massachusetts!)

Positive Parenting Resolution - Brookline, Mass.

2006-02-21T17:55:00.000-08:00

A Resolution to Encourage Parents and Caregivers of Children to Refrain from the Use of Corporal Punishment
Author: Ron Goldman
Brookline, Massachusetts - May 2005

ARTICLE 25

WHEREAS the nation’s pediatric professionals and children’s advocates oppose the use of corporal punishment of children;

WHEREAS research shows that corporal punishment teaches children that hitting is an acceptable way of dealing with problems and that violence works;

WHEREAS there are effective alternatives to corporal punishment of children;

WHEREAS national surveys show that corporal punishment is common and 35% of infants are hit before they are one year old;

WHEREAS adopting national policies against corporal punishment has been an effective public education measure in various countries;

WHEREAS accumulated research supports the conclusion that corporal punishment is an ineffective discipline strategy with children of all ages and, furthermore, that it is sometimes dangerous;

WHEREAS studies show that corporal punishment often produces in its victims anger, resentment, low self-esteem, anxiety, helplessness, and humiliation;

WHEREAS research demonstrates that the more children are hit, the greater the likelihood that they will engage in aggression and anti-social behavior as children imitate what they see adults doing;

WHEREAS in a study of 8000 families, children who experience frequent corporal punishment are more likely to physically attack siblings, develop less adequately-developed consciences, experience adult depression, and physically attack a spouse as an adult;

WHEREAS, according to human rights documents, children, like adults, have the right not to be physically assaulted;

WHEREAS the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child has consistently stated that persisting legal and social acceptance of corporal punishment is incompatible with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child;

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that Town Meeting encourages parents and caregivers of children to refrain from the use of corporal punishment and to use alternative nonviolent methods of child discipline and management with an ultimate goal of mutual respect between parent and child.

Town Meeting requests that appropriate Town groups explore how they can further raise awareness of this issue, and organizations that deal with children's welfare shall be informed of this resolution.

EXPLANATION

This voluntary resolution is in no way intended to undermine parental authority or familial autonomy. Its goal is to promote and advocate mutual respectful relationships between children and their parents and encourage thoughtful determination of discipline methods. It seeks to bring attention to this issue and is meant to be a gentle, reasonable, and respectful suggestion. It could result in more support and discussion of options for disciplining children.

Corporal punishment is the intentional infliction of physical pain for the purpose of punishment. Examples of corporal punishment include assault and battery that do not cause bodily injury, slapping, spanking, hitting with objects, shaking and pinching. Such incidents are not reported to any agency. Child abuse is already subject to State law and is not the focus of this resolution. Discipline is training to act in accordance with rules of conduct.

This resolution is supported by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Massachusetts Citizens for Children, and the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

A large-scale meta-analysis of 88 studies (Gershoff, 2002) published by the American Psychological Association, found strong associations between corporal punishment and ten negative outcomes, including eroded trust between parent and child, more aggression toward siblings, bullying, spousal abuse as adults, and other anti-social behavior.

American Academy of Pediatrics Recommendations

Parents should be encouraged and assisted in the development of methods other than spanking for managing undesired behavior. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the following consequences of spanking lessen its desirability as a strategy to eliminate undesired behavior.

Spanking children <18 months of age increases the chance of physical injury, and the child is unlikely to understand the connection between the behavior and the punishment. Although spanking may result in a reaction of shock by the child and cessation of the undesired behavior, repeated spanking may cause agitated, aggressive behavior in the child that may lead to physical altercation between parent and child.
Spanking models aggressive behavior as a solution to conflict and has been associated with increased aggression in preschool and school children.
Spanking and threats of spanking lead to altered parent-child relationships, making discipline substantially more difficult when physical punishment is no longer an option, such as with adolescents.
Spanking is no more effective as a long-term strategy than other approaches, and reliance on spanking as a discipline approach makes other discipline strategies less effective to use. Time-out and positive reinforcement of other behaviors are more difficult to implement and take longer to become effective when spanking has previously been a primary method of discipline.
A pattern of spanking may be sustained or increased. Because spanking may provide the parent some relief from anger, the likelihood that the parent will spank the child in the future is increased.
Consequences of Corporal Punishment
Children whose parents use corporal punishment to control antisocial behavior show more antisocial behavior themselves over a long period of time, regardless of race and socioeconomic status, and regardless of whether the mother provides cognitive stimulation and emotional support (Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997; Kazdin, 1987; Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989; Straus, Sugarman, & Giles-Sims, 1997).
A consistent pattern of physical abuse exists that generally starts as corporal punishment, and then gets out of control (Kadushin & Martin, 1981; Straus & Yodanis, 1994).
Adults who were hit as children are more likely to be depressed or violent themselves (Berkowitz, 1993; Strassberg, Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1994; Straus, 1994; Straus & Gelles, 1990; Straus & Kantor, 1992).
The more a child is hit, the more likely it is that the child, when an adult, will hit his or her children, spouse, or friends (Julian & McKenry, 1993; Straus, 1991; Straus, 1994; Straus & Gelles, 1990; Straus & Kantor, 1992; Widom, 1989; Wolfe, 1987).
Corporal punishment increases the probability of children assaulting the parent in retaliation, especially as they grow older (Brezina, 1998).
Corporal punishment sends a message to the child that violence is a viable option for solving problems (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980; Straus, Sugarman, & Giles-Sims, 1997).
Corporal punishment is degrading, contributes to feelings of helplessness and humiliation, robs a child of self-worth and self-respect, and can lead to withdrawal or aggression (Sternberg et al., 1993; Straus, 1994).
Corporal punishment erodes trust between a parent and a child, and increases the risk of child abuse; as a discipline measure, it simply does not decrease children's aggressive or delinquent behaviors (Straus, 1994).
Children who get spanked regularly are more likely over time to cheat or lie, be disobedient at school, bully others, and show less remorse for wrongdoing (Straus, Sugarman, & Giles-Sims, 1997).
Corporal punishment adversely affects children's cognitive development. Children who are spanked perform poorly on school tasks compared to other children (Straus & Mathur, 1995; Straus & Paschall, 1998).
The anti-social behaviors associated with corporal punishment may not be exhibited in most cases. However, the increase in the prevalence of such behaviors is significant.
Alternatives to Corporal Punishment

Set firm, consistent, age-appropriate, and acceptable limits. For example, although a 5-year-old child may be able to resist the urge to touch things, it is not reasonable to expect that a 2-year-old will be able to handle such limits. Therefore, parents may need to childproof their homes to protect breakable items, and to keep children away from dangerous objects.
Teach children conflict resolution and mediation skills, including listening actively, speaking clearly, showing trust and being trustworthy, accepting differences, setting group goals, negotiating, and mediating conflicts. Reason and talk with children in age-appropriate ways. Verbal parent-child interactions enhance children's cognitive ability.
Model patience, kindness, empathy, and cooperation. Parents and teachers should be aware of the powerful influence their actions have on a child's or group's behavior.
Provide daily opportunities for children to practice rational problem solving, and to study alternatives and the effect of each alternative.
Encourage and praise children. A nonverbal response such as a smile or a nod, or a verbal response such as "good" or "right" not only provides incentives for accomplishment, but also builds primary grade children's confidence.
Allow children to participate in setting rules-and identifying consequences for breaking them. This empowers children to learn how to manage their own behavior. Provide consistency, structure, continuity, and predictability in children's lives.
Encourage children's autonomy-allow them to think for themselves, and to monitor their own behavior, letting their conscience guide them.

Hitting People is Wrong, and Children are People Too

2006-02-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

EPOCH is a new national organization which aims to end physical punishment of children by parents and other carers. Now that hitting has been almost eliminated in schools and child care institutions, it is time to end it in the home as well.

EPOCH hopes to achieve its aim through public education, research and legal reforms.

First and foremost EPOCH wants to see changes in attitudes to children; to see children recognized as people - and recognition that it is as wrong to hurt a child as it is to hurt another adult. Far from having a right or even a duty to hit children, parents have a right to information about non-violent ways of bringing up their children, and a duty to discipline them with their heads and hearts rather than with their hands or implements.

EPOCH will work with and for parents and other organization to promote non-violent, positive methods of bringing up children.

The law protects the rest of us from violence at the hands of anyone else. Why shouldn't it protect children too?

EPOCH believes that ending physical punishment will have many positive effects:
* children can only achieve their full potential when they are recognized as individual people with rights of their own;

* the current acceptance of physical punishment helps to cause more serious child abuse;

* even `light' physical punishment can unintentionally cause significant injuries to small children;

* children who are hit by their parents learn that violent solutions are acceptable and are more likely in turn to hit their own children. Violence breeds violence.

What do you mean by "physical punishment"?

We mean any action which is meant to cause pain to a child, such as hitting, slapping, smacking, with a hand or with a slipper, strap, stick or other implement. We also include violent shaking and any kind of forcible imprisonment, such as being locked in a room or cupboard or tied in a cot.

What's so wrong with hitting children?

Better to ask "what's right about it?" Everybody agrees it is morally wrong to settle arguments between adult people with blows. But children are people too. Why should they of all people lack equal protection from all forms of violence - particularly when they are among the most vulnerable physically?
Physical punishments are not only morally wrong, they don't work either. A whack on the bottom may stop children for that moment. But it won't stop them doing the same thing later on because being hit does not teach them anything useful. It doesn't teach them how you want them to behave, and it doesn't teach them to try to please you. Research evidence shows that children who have been slapped or hit are usually so overwhelmed with anger and hurt feelings that they cannot remember what they were punished for.

But surely you need to use physical force to keep children safe?

There is all the difference in the world between using your strength to snatch a child away from a hot stove or prevent them running into a busy road, and intentionally causing pain as punishment.

Surely a tap on the legs doesn't count?

Yet it does. Lots of parents `tap' babies, but many, many more smack four year year-olds. That's because hitting doesn't work except to relieve parents' feelings. If you let yourself smack your toddler for fiddling with the TV, what can you do when the toddler fiddles again except smack again - harder? And what can you do with the five year-old who refuses to stay in their room to `cool off' except lock the door...?

But is the ordinary kind of smacking that goes on in loving homes worth all this fuss?

Yes it is - because violence really does breed violence and violence is a major problem in today's society. We are not saying that hitting at home is the only cause of that violence, but we are saying that ending hitting at home would help to reduce it. Children model a lot of their behaviour on their parents. Parents who use physical punishment are directly teaching their children that physical force is an acceptable way to get what you want. If we want less violent adults we have to bring them up believing that physical force is not acceptable.

But aren't ordinary physical punishment and child abuse two quite different things?

When serious cases of child abuse are investigated, they are frequently shown to have started with occasional smacks given in the name of discipline which gradually escalated into tragedies. Current acceptance of physical punishment causes a dangerous confusion. Most of those responsible for seriously injuring children are found to have been physically punished in their childhood.
And even light blows can accidently cause serious injury to small children - eg `clips round the ear' have burst ear drums and permanently damaged hearing, and smacks catching a child off balance have led to falls and head injuries.

But chidlren need discipline; what should replace physical punishment?

EPOCH certainly doesn't argue against discipline, or against consistent limits for children. The best responses to bad behaviour are always directly linked to it: parents' disapproval, irritation or anger, the removal of the toy or playmate the child is hurting, or the ending of the game or meal which is being ruined for everyone else. Rewards work better than punishments for children, just as they do for adults. There are already many parents who don't hit their children in any circumstances, but certainly believe in discipline and limits. You don't spoil a child by not hitting them.

How can you expect parents under stress, suffering from family poverty, unemployment and lack of proper child care support not to hit their children?

EPOCH agrees that our society needs to do much more for those who bear the burden of child-rearing and it will support those campaigning for reforms. But there are no clear links between such social factors and the frequency or severity of hitting children. The fact is that while there continues to be confusion over what is acceptable, hitting children is likely to itself increase stress and violence within any family.
In any case, why should children and only children wait for equal protection from violence until we've sorted out these other major social ills?

If you stop parents hitting their children they'll resort to even worse forms of punishment - and what about emotional abuse anyway?

Obviously other kinds of punishment can be harmful too. We concentrate on physical punishment because its harmful effects have been clearly demonstrated, because it is very frequently used, is clearly defined and because children are the only people in our society who are not protected from it. Changing attitudes to physical punishment, and hence to children will discourage other harmful forms of punishment.

Won't every parent sometimes lose his or her temper and hit their child?

While hitting children remains as acceptable as it is today, the answer is probably `yes'. But do all adults sometimes lose their temper and hit their partner? No - because hitting other adults (or even pets) is beyond the pale. If hitting children was equally unacceptable, most parents would never do it and the few who sometimes did would regret it and try not to. That is all it would take to shift social attitudes towards a new respect for children as people.

Banning physical punishment - it does work

Over five million European children are already protected from all physcial punishment in their home as well as in institutions. Five European countries - Sweden (in 1979), Finland (in 1983), Denmark (in 1985), Norway (in 1987) and Austria (in 1989) have adopted laws which prohibit parents hitting their children. The purpose in each case has been educational; to change attitudes, not to punish parents. There are no criminal penalties attached to the bans. The reforms have not led to a rush of children taking their parents to court over physical punishment, and numbers of children taken into care in Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries are low and reducing.

`Children are entitled to care, security and a good upbringing. Children are to be treated with respect for their person and individuality and may not be subjected to corporal punishment or any other humiliating treatment'
-- Swedish Parenthood and Guardianship Code

In Sweden, school corporal punishment was outlawed in the fifties; in 1966 the legal provision confirming parents' right to use physcial punishment was dropped, and in 1979 a new law was passed with little opposition, stating: `A child may not be subjected to physical punishment or other injurious or humiliating treatment'.
Opinion polls have shown a dramatic change in the attitudes of Swedish parents: between 1965 and 1981 the proportion believing that `physical punishment is sometimes necessary' reduced from 53 per cent to 26 per cent, and those believing that children should be raised without physcial punishment increased from 35 per cent to 70 per cent.

In 1985 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe proposed, in a recommendation on family violence, that member states should `review their legislation on the power to punish children in order to limit or indeed prohibit corporal punishment, even if violation of such a prohibition does not necessarily entail a criminal penalty'. (Recommendation R(85)4)
The point of changing the law is to make sure everyone - including children - know that physical punishment is no longer acceptable. EPOCH believes such legal changes are necessary, but not enough; public education is also needed, and EPOCH hopes to help with this too.

The law and physical punishment in the UK

Parents have long-established common law rights to hit their children - provided the punishment is `moderate and reasonable' there used to be similar rights to beat wives, servants, and apprentices). Extreme forms of physical punishment can lead to prosecution, but the courts have been notoriously slow to protect children from even excessive punishment.
Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, which makes cruelty including assault, ill-treatment and neglect of children an offence, has a specific exemption allowing physical punishment. Section 1(7) states: `Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the right of any parent, teacher or other person having lawful control or charge of a child or young person to administer punishment to him'.
An early aim for EPOCH is to get this statutory endorsement repealed. But this would still leave parents with their common law rights to hit theri children; new legislation will be needed to remove these, along the lines of the Scandinavian reforms.

In 1987, a Council of Europe meeting including UK representatives on `Violence in the Family' recommended: `Corporal punishment of children by their parents should be strongly discouraged. In some countries it is illegal, and efforts should be made to see whether it cannot be banned in other countries'.

Corporal punishment in the penal system and in the armed forces has long been abolished, and in August 1987 the UK became the last European country to end school corporal punishment (but pupils in independent schools whose fees are being paid by their parents still remain unprotected). Abolition in all child care institutions has also been promised.

In 1981, the Government-appointed Children's Committee recommeded in a discussion document: `The United Kingdom should embark upon a progressive programme, governed by a specific time-scale, to eliminate the use of coporal punishment on children and young people'.

How often are children hit?
John and Elizabeth Newson's research at Nottingham University's Child Development Research Unit has found that 62 per cent of the random sample of 700 parents interviewed hit their one year-old child; even more hit their four year-old child - and seven per cent of these four year-olds are hit at least once a day.
By the age of seven, at least eight per cent are being hit once a day and a further 33 per cent not less than once a week, 22 per cent of seven your-olds receive corporal punishment with an implement, and 53 per cent have been threatened with an implement: thus three quarters of seven year-olds are either hit or threatened with implements (91 per cent of boys and 62 per cent of girls).
By the age of 11, 18 per cent (22 per cent of boys) are being hit once or more a week and 15 per cent of boys are being punished with an implement.

`The majority of British parents we have interviewed seem to believe that physical punishment is an inevitable and probably necessary aspect of ordinary child upbringing'
-- John and Elizabeth Newson
The Newsons' figures - based as they are on face-to-face interviews - must surely be underestimates. From their most recent interviews they indicate that `there is no reason to suppose that the extent of parental punishment has decreased across the board'. (A 1985 study found almost two-thirds of one-year-old babies being smacked).

EPOCH (End Physical Punishment of Children)
77 Holloway Road, London N7 8JZ
171 700 0627

A Multi-pronged Approach to Ending Physical Punishment of Children in the United States

2006-02-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

"Individuals have a moral responsibility and a role in ending physical punishment of children.

We must resolve not to hit our own children and to be knowledgeable about positive alternatives to physical punishment.
We should use terms that reflect the real nature of physical punishment like "hitting" rather than euphemisms like "swats" or "pops".
In our professional roles, we should tell parents and caretakers not to hit children and provide alternatives.
We should support legal and educational reforms that lead to ending physical punishment of children.
Educational Institutions and Professional Organizations have a role in ending physical punishment of Children

Teacher Education, Social Work, Criminal Justice, Counseling, Nursing, medical education and all human services programs should integrate knowledge about the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives into the curricula.
All professional organizations should have a position statement opposing the physical punishment of children and work for and support public policy and legal reform which leads to the elimination of physical punishment of children.
States and Communities have role in ending physical punishment of children.

Physical punishment in schools should be banned.
Programs on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives should be part of required training for teachers, staff and students in public schools.
Programs on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives should be available and accessible to all parents.
All professionals with mandated reporting responsibility for child abuse should have appropriate training in the negative effects of physical punishment of children and the benefits of positive alternatives.
State laws should be reformed to make it a misdemeanor to strike a child.
The federal government can help end physical punishment of children.

The Senate should ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Surgeon General should establish a national blue ribbon task force on physical punishment of children and begin an educational campaign to end its use in all settings including homes.
Congress should require the prohibition of physical punishment in all laws regarding schools; foster care, institutional care and child care as a condition of federal funding.
All federally funded parent education programs should provide training on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives.
Child abuse prevention grants should require that state programs focus activities on eliminating parental physical punishment of children and supporting positive alternatives."

Adopted by the EPOCH-USA Advisory Board, June 2005.

Chicago's Positive Parenting Resolution

2006-01-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

It's not the law, but it's a start:

THE FOLLOWING POSITIVE PARENTING RESOLUTION WAS OVERWHELMINGLY PASSED BY CHICAGO'S CITY COUNCIL ON OCTOBER 28, 2005

DIRECT EFFECT POSITIVE PARENTING RESOLUTION
Submitted by Michelle DiGiacomo

PRESENTED TO CHICAGO’S CITY COUNCIL ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2005
By
Alderman Isaac Carothers

WHEREAS, all children need love, guidance and deserve to grow up in an environment free from violence and physical harm. Positive, non-violent, peaceful forms of discipline teach children to think beyond the immediate and give them a blueprint for future reference.

WHEREAS, Children are influenced by the model for behavior set by adults in their environment. When adults resort to violence, children are likely to learn this behavior is acceptable and imitate it with their and

WHEREAS, positive, non-violent parenting promotes positive, peaceful relationships and respect for others and their rights to safety; and

WHEREAS, Childhood is a unique and critical stage of life. All children share the same basic needs for safety, health, love and dignity. Peaceful, communicative parenting supports a child’s development: and

WHEREAS, current research is proving that violence negatively impacts upon normal brain development and learning for all children; and

WHEREAS, violent behavior learned in the home and school environment is reflected in the behaviors of people throughout our communities, cities and societies at large. As a result of this violence, children and families are hurting, education systems and learning has been hindered, and prisons are overflowing with youth: now therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of Chicago will support a proclamation that encourages non-violent discipline in the effort to reduce violence towards all but especially within the family and as directed towards children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council of Chicago, on behalf of the children of Chicago, help establish ties between our schools and community through the promotion of mental health and family counseling programs to support families experiencing stress; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Chicago Child Abuse Prevention Joint Task Force is urged to continue its advocacy on behalf of children experiencing violence in the home; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that City Departments and Agencies are encouraged to implement and distribute positive, non-violent parenting literature within the community via schools, churches, hospitals and community organizations which will help to make parents aware of education that supports behavior management strategies as alternatives to corporal punishment; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall serve as notice that City Council of the City of Chicago has been and shall remain vigilant in guarding the best interests of the children of Chicago in all matters to the extent legally and feasibly possible.

Alderman Isaac Carothers, 29th Ward

The Alderman of Chicago have chosen to make a difference in the lives of our most precious and innocent citizens; our children. It is our hope that this Resolution be passed in cities throughout the country. Please contact us if you are interested in effecting change in your own city and we will do all in our power to help!

What This Site Is...And What It Is Not

2006-01-31T13:34:00.000-08:00

What it is: A call to arms for people who feel the way I do about this issue to take action. It was once legal in this country to beat one's wife. It was once legal in all 50 states to hit children in schools. We have changed those laws and we can change these. (Some states still need to enter the 21st century on the school paddling issue.)

What it is NOT: An invitation for debate. If you are a proponent of hitting children, this isn't the site for you. You are not going to convince me, no matter what you say, that it is our right as parents to discipline our children physically. It is no more a civil right to hit a child than it is to hit a spouse.

My goal is to keep this issue top-of-mind for bloggers who want to see change. It's a controversial position in the minds of some, but then again...so was abolition. I will continue to post articles, quotes, statistics. A toolkit for activism.

One commenter accused me of being a "child protection fanatic". To that person, I say thank you.

But, because people haven't been able to resist trying to debate me on this topic, I have turned off comments. This will be an information-only site, not meant for feedback.

If we are ever to turn toward a kindlier society and a safer world, a revulsion against the physical punishment of children would be a good place to start.

- Dr. Benjamin Spock

Another Child Beaten to Death in NYC

2006-01-31T03:46:00.000-08:00

Details are just emerging:

Read the story here.

Interesting Observation

2006-01-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

I've been quite taken aback at how ANGRY the pro-hitting contingent is about this topic...but then again, it's all about anger and how we express it, isn't it?

A few people have asked me how this type of legislation could possibly work. How could it be enforced? How would parents be punished? Would every child be removed from the home of a parent who "spanked"? I don't see why this is so hard to understand. Domestic violence laws just need to extend to children. Any type of hitting is considered domestic violence when one spouse strikes another. In fact, taking a swing at your partner is grounds for police intervention. (I know this, because I called the police when my ex-husband took a swing at me and missed).

If it does not appear that the child is injured or in immediate danger, a parent would be told that it is NOT OKAY to physically punish (spank, swat, pop, whatever the hell they want to call it) their child.

Clearly a change in the law would have to be accompanied by a major education campaign for parents, in ways to raise their children without hitting. And how about teaching children what it is to be a good parent, from elementary school and beyond? If a child is in class and learns that 'spanking' is not okay, they might be inclined to say "hey, my parents do that."

Think about it. When seatbelt laws first came into effect, some people thought it was a civil rights violation (oddly, these are the same people who couldn't give a fig about civil rights for gay people, and hate the ACLU). But lo and behold...behavior changed. People wear seatbelts. Lives have been saved. People aren't being carted off to jail for not wearing a seatbelt. They have just learned that it is the BETTER thing to do, and that their 'personal choice' not to wear one does affect the rest of us. (Hurtling bodies, higher insurance rates)

All of that said, another child has died in NYC... this time a four-year-old boy. His mother's story? A TV fell on the kid. Two days ago.

Corporal Punishment and the Effect on Crime

2006-01-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

In response to "anonymous" whose comments indicate a belief that children need to be hit in order not to grow up to be criminals, I give you:

The Influence of Corporal Punishment on Crime
by Adah Maurer, Ph.D. and James S. Wallerstein (1987)

The last legal flogging of a convicted felon in the United States occurred in Delaware in 1952. The barbaric practice was made illegal in that year, but Delaware waited until 1972 to formally remove the whipping post from the state penitentiary.
Flogging in the Navy for drunken or disorderly conduct was abolished in 1853. The Marines finally forbade all forms of physical punishment in 1957 after a drill sergeant led a disciplinary march into a bog where six young men were drowned. Military instructors now may not touch the person or the clothing of a recruit and "Any fracture, concussion, contusion or welt shall be considered prima facia evidence of excessive force.'' There are no exceptions made on the grounds that some young men bruise easily.

Slavery and involuntary servitude had always been maintained with the help of whips, but that disappeared in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln, January 1, 1863.

Spousal abuse used to be termed "reasonable chastisement of wives" and was presumed necessary to maintain the sanctity and stability of the family. All states now have laws against such assaults, and law enforcement and the courts have begun to take seriously, complaints of spousal battery.

Only Children

Now, in 1987, physical punishment is considered too severe for felons, murderers, criminals of all kinds and ages, including juvenile delinquents, too demeaning for soldiers, sailors, servants and spouses. But it remains legal and acceptable for children who are innocent of any crime.

The reasoning behind this curious discrepancy has been the belief that physical punishment will prevent the child from becoming a criminal. The frequent headlines: "Rising Tide of Juvenile Delinquency" usually attribute the situation to a decline of the use of corporal punishment in schools and homes. "Permissiveness," or letting the child do as he pleases, assumed by some to be the only alternative to hitting, is pervasively believed to be the primary cause of anti-social behavior. In the good old days, it is said, "old fashioned discipline" kept children in line. There was very little crime. Harmony reigned. Or did it?

The Truth About the "Good Old Days"

There are no reliable statistics on the extent of crime a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago. From all reports, however, crime in the U.S. was extensive, especially violent crime and crimes among the young. The good citizens of 19th century America were also alarmed. They looked back to the good old days of simple rural life, before the growth of the cities. The crowded and crime-ridden Eastern cities were contrasted unfavorably with the "wide open spaces" of the West -- the West, that is, of Jesse James and Billy the Kid!

Discipline in the one room schoolhouses was violent. Often the teacher engaged in a bare knuckle fight with the biggest student as a warning to the others of what would happen to them if they provoked his wrath. Horace Mann, the Father of American education, fulminated against the number of floggings per day, sometimes more than the number of scholars. Most of our great grandparents were satisfied with a fourth grade education and eighth grade was the end for all but five percent. The lawless mountain men of the Old West were recruited from the 14-year olds who high tailed it after one thrashing too many. Bands of outlaws stole horses, and plagued the defenseless. Public hangings and Iynchings were commonplace while pickpockets worked the crowds. Only the militia and the sheriff's posse maintained any semblance of order.

Yet the myth remains that only woodshed discipline in early youth keeps boys from a life of crime, and that respect for authority is promoted only by painful procedures that induce fear and resentment of authority.

What is the truth? Let's take a good hard look at the facts about the effects of corporal punishment on crime.

After-Effects of Physical Punishment

Adrenalin output increases sharply during fear, anger and physical punishment. When this is prolonged or often repeated, the endocrine balance fails to return to baseline. The victim becomes easily angered and prone to poor impulse control and spontaneous violent outbursts.

Educational achievement is affected both directly and indirectly. Studies of prisoners, delinquents, school drop-outs, college freshmen and successful professionals are compared in the following composite report.

Degree of physical punishment

Violent inmates at San Quentin:
Never - 0%
Rare - 0%
Moderate - 0%
Severe - 0%
Extreme - 100%

Juvenile Delinquents:
Never - 0%
Rare - 2%
Moderate - 3%
Severe - 31%
Extreme - 64%

High School drop-outs:
Never - 0%
Rare - 7%
Moderate - 23%
Severe - 69%
Extreme - 0%

College freshmen:
Never - 2%
Rare - 23%
Moderate - 40%
Severe - 33%
Extreme - 0%

Professionals:
Never - 5%
Rare - 40%
Moderate - 36%
Severe - 17%
Extreme - 0%

Taking part in this survey were: 200 psychologists who filled out anonymous questionnaires, 372 college students at the University of California, Davis and California State University at Fresno, 52 slow track underachievers at Richmond High School. Delinquents were interviewed by Dr. Ralph Welsh in Bridgeport, Connecticut and by Dr. Alan Button in Fresno, California. Prisoner information was by courtesy of Hobart Banks, M.S.W., counselor of difficult prisoners at San Quentin Penitentiary, San Quentin, California.

Timing

Do delinquents grow from lack of discipline? Or from too much discipline? Dr. Alan Button reports, "This, it now appears is the wrong question. We should be asking about sequence. Parents of delinquents, all of them, report physical beating in the first ten to twelve years of the child's life, but rarely thereafter. They "wash their hands" of the kid because "nothing works." Then the judge, finding that the boy has no supervision, denounces permissiveness.

The Belt Theory

Dr. Ralph Welsh who has given psychological examinations to over 2,000 delinquents, has developed what he calls. "The Belt Theory of Juvenile Delinquency." Dr. Welsh tells us:

"The recidivist male delinquent who has never been exposed to the belt, extension cord or fist at some time in his life is virtually non-existent. As the severity of corporal punishment in the delinquent's developmental history increases, so does the probability that he will engage in a violent act."

Driving Under the Influence

Car crashes caused by drunk driving are increased by a hidden factor. Bottled up anger, when combined with alcohol is the largest cause of the highway death toll which comes to 25,000 deaths every year, or one every 20 minutes. An investigation by Donald C. Pelz of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in 1973 led to his finding that: "For the young male, anger toward the adult world is likely to find vent in dangerous driving ... Hostility tends to multiply with their attitude toward the educational system ... Those who had rejected the school system ... are likely to reject the highway system. " In fact he concluded that abiding anger was even more dangerous than drinking per se, but that the combination was the most deadly. The insult to high school boys of an embarrassing paddling raises the adrenaline level, which if repeated often enough stays high all the time. They are the timebombs whose battlefield casualties litter the roads and intersections of our country.

Spanking the Baby

The effect begins early. Babies just over a year were observed with their mothers at a clinic at the University of Houston. As reported in Psychology Today interviews about the methods of discipline they used revealed that the babies who where punished physically were the least likely to obey instructions not to touch breakables. Even more importantly, seven months later the punished children lagged behind the others in developmental tests.

The Real Reason

Why, with all this evidence about the destructive effects of physically painful punishments, do so many people continue to believe that the only alternative to hitting children is to negligently allow them to do as they please? And that what they please is always delinquent, if not outright criminal?

At the National Center for the Study of Corporal Punishment at Temple University in Philadelphia a large research project inquired of adults the reasons for their beliefs, both pro- and anti-paddle. Most thought they had arrived at their belief logically, but in truth, the real determinant was their own childhood history. Those who had been spanked, paddled, switched, whipped etc. tended overwhelmingly to believed in it. Those who had not been hit, and had attended non-hitting schools, did not believe hitting did any good or were shocked and dismayed at the very idea. The action-language of our childhood overrides logic more often than not. Minds and habits do change, however, but it takes thoughtful assessment and considerable motivation even by people of goodwill.

Institutional Abuse

Whether the beatings were at the hands of the natural parents, or others who stood in for them seems to make little difference except that institutional punishments lack even intermittent moments of pride and belonging, that might in some cases mitigate slightly the worst effects. Charles Manson, the child of a 15 year old single mother had his first contact with police when he was 7 and spent the rest of his life in a series of foster homes, reform schools and prisons. He could have survived the rejection of his mother, he says, if reform school of officials hadn't been institutionally cruel, whipping, beating and raping him, and letting other inmates do the same.

A survey of 3,900 people in Houston as to what effect school corporal punishment had on their lives found that 76 percent of them said the effects had been negative and that they continued to resent what happened to them. That leaves about a fourth of them who were able to shrug it off and a mere handful who felt grateful for the timely punishment that "saved me from a life of crime." Thus, the one who testifies that "I was paddled when I was a kid and I turned out okay," must be labeled a survivor and congratulated on the strength of character that enabled him to make a life in spite of early mistreatment. Psychologist Robert Fathman, has offered this apt analogy: "Many people grew up in homes that had outhouses and they turned out okay. But do outhouses get the credit?"

2006-01-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

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Oprah

2006-01-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

I have written to Oprah, and hope this might get someone's attention there.

If anyone wants to do the same, here's the link . (See? I'm making at easy as possible for you)

This is what I wrote:

"With all the recent publicity surrounding the death of little Nixmary Brown in NYC, at the hands of her parents, several lawmakers are proposing legislation to impose harsher sentences on those who kill children.

I do not think that is enough, nor is it the answer.

We need to STOP sanctioning corporal punishment in the home, NOW. This is a human rights issue. Children need to be protected from physical assault in the same way that our adult counterparts are.

I have started a blog to publicize this cause and you can access it here:
http://stophitting.blogspot.com, but this issue needs Oprah. We've outlawed it in most (not all) schools. We have to stop letting parents use their own (often fatally flawed) judgment when deciding where discipline ends and abuse begins.

I can't smack my next door neighbor. I can't 'spank' my elderly mother, even though she physically abused me as a child.

Please help me in this effort. I know that if Oprah gets behind this, we can make it happen."

Let's Take Action!!

2006-01-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

I am starting this blog as a grass roots effort to change these ridiculous state laws that allow parents to use their own (often fatally flawed) judgment when "disciplining" their children. I would encourage everyone who feels this way to email or write letters to your Assemblypeople and State Senators. I will be writing and posting a sample letter that you can send.

In New York City and State right now, several lawmakers are proposing "Nixmary's Law" which only addresses harsher punishments for people who kill children. That is not enough. We need to stop the abuse before it starts...not just concern ourselves with locking up the murderers. I have written to each and every one of those legislators.

We have been able to make this change in schools in most states. (Hard to believe that some states still allow it.) It's time to bring the US into the 21st century and teach parents how to raise children without hitting them. It's harder, for sure, but who ever said it was easy to be a parent? Spanking is just a euphamism for "I've run out of ideas." There are plenty of better ways to get children to behave.

Check out this website for starters:
The Center for Effective Discipline

Here's an excerpt from the EPOCH (End Physical Punishment of Children in the Home) page:

Spanking: Facts and Fiction

Definitions:

Corporal punishment:
Synonymous with “physical punishment.”." It means the intentional infliction of pain on the body for purposes of punishment or controlling behavior. It includes slapping, spanking, hitting with objects, pinching, shaking, and forcing to stand for long periods of time.

Spanking:
Hitting with the flat of the hand usually on the buttocks for punishment or for stopping a behavior.

In the United States, spanking as punishment has shown a long-term decline. In the 1950's, ninety-nine percent of parents supported the use of corporal punishment of children. In recent years that number has fallen. Surveys generally report about fifty percent of parents supporting its use. Studies show that a majority of parents who use corporal punishment feel badly about it and don't think it works to improve behavior.

Parents who support spanking often use one of the following arguments:

Spanking is an effective way to manage behavior.
I got hit when I was a kid and I turned out OK.
If we don’t spank children, they’ll grow up rotten.
The bible says, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”
Look at the facts:

Spanking argument #1 - “Spanking is an effective way to manage behavior”

Hitting a small child will usually stop misbehavior. However, other ways of discipline such as verbal correction, reasoning, and time-out work as well and do not have the potential for harm that hitting does. Hitting children may actually increase misbehavior. One large study showed that the more parents spanked children for antisocial behavior, the more the antisocial behavior increased (Straus, Sugarman, & Giles-Sims, 1997). The more children are hit, the more likely they are to hit others including peers and siblings and, as adults, they are more likely to hit their spouses (Straus and Gelles, 1990; Wolfe, 1987). Hitting children teaches them that it is acceptable to hit others who are smaller and weaker. “I'm going to hit you because you hit your sister” is a hypocrisy not lost on children.

Spanking argument #2 - “I got hit when I was a kid and I turned out OK”

Being spanked is an emotional event. Adults often remember with crystal clarity times they were paddled or spanked as children. Many adults look back on corporal punishment in childhood with great anger and sadness. Sometimes people say, “I was spanked as a child, and I deserved it”. It is hard for us to believe that people who loved us would intentionally hurt us. We feel the need to excuse that hurt. Studies show that even a few instances of being hit as children are associated with more depressive symptoms as adults (Strauss, 1994, Strassberg, Dodge, Pettit & Bates, 1994). A landmark meta-analysis of 88 corporal punishment research studies of over six decades showed that corporal punishment of children was associated with negative outcomes including increased delinquent and antisocial behavior, increased risk of child abuse and spousal abuse, increased risk of child aggression and adult aggression, decreased child mental health and decreased adult mental health (Gershoff, 2002). While most of us who were spanked “turned out OK”, it is likely that not being spanked would have helped us turn out to be healthier.

Spanking Argument #3 - “If we don't spank children, they'll grow up rotten”

Children in seventeen countries (2005) are growing up without being hit in homes, in daycare or in schools. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Finland and other countries that have banned corporal punishment of children in general have low rates of interpersonal violence compared to the United States. Critics predicted that Swedish youth would grow up more unruly after parents stopped spanking because of the l979 corporal punishment ban. Dr. Joan Durrant who studied effects of the ban for l5 years reported that this did not happen. Her studies indicate youth did not become more unruly, under socialized or self-destructive following the ban. In fact, she said most measures demonstrated a substantial improvement in youth well-being (Durrant, 2000). Professor Adrienne Haeuser who studied these educational laws in Europe in 1981 and 1991 said “Children are receiving more discipline since the law in Sweden passed. Parents think twice and tend to rely more on verbal conflict resolution to manage their children”. Discipline is important. Discipline means “to teach”. We need more discipline of children such as explaining and reasoning, establishing rules and consequences, praising good behavior in children and being good models for or children. Such methods develop a child's conscience and self-control. Children who experience teaching discipline are less likely to misbehave and more likely to become self-disciplined adults.

Spanking Argument #4 - “The bible says 'Spare the rod and spoil the child' and I must obey God”

Spanking is deeply rooted in the history and culture of the United States. The bible is often used to support, even perhaps to require, that parents use corporal punishment on children. Many clergy today are speaking out against that interpretation of scripture. The Reverend Dr. Thomas E. Sagendorf, retired Methodist Minister, says the following “I can find no sanction in the teaching of Jesus or the witness of the New Testament to encourage the practice of corporal punishment at home, school or anywhere else. A number of popular voices take a different view, often quoting Old Testament scriptures to prove their point. Those who subscribe to this argument misunderstand and misuse scripture. A similar method of selective reading could just as well be used to justify slavery, suppression of women, polygamy, incest and infanticide”. At its General Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in April and May, 2004, the United Methodist Church passed two resolutions against corporal punishment in homes, schools and child-care. The United Methodist Church is the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

Conclusion

Look at the facts. Accumulated research supports the ineffectiveness and harm of corporal punishment. Children who are spanked most are more likely to be aggressive and hit others. Children hit for antisocial behaviors are more likely to increase those misbehaviors. Hitting children teaches acceptance of violence. While most of us who were spanked as children grow up to be healthy adults, spanking caused anxiety, contributed to feelings of helplessness and humiliation, and often provoked anger and a desire for revenge, feelings which have usually been repressed in adulthood but may lead to depression, adult violence, and hitting our own children. Effective discipline exists. It does not involve hitting and humiliating children.

References and Resources

Durrant, Joan E. (2000). “Trends in Youth Crime and Well-Being Since the Abolition of Corporal Punishment in Sweden”, Youth and Society. Youth and Society, Volume 31, 437-455.

Gershoff, Elizabeth (2002) “Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review”, Psychological Bulletin 2002. Vol. 128, No. 4 539-579. American Psychological Association.

Greven, Philip. (1992). Spare the Rod: The religious roots of punishment and the psychological impact of physical abuse. Vintage Books.

Miller, Alice. (1990) For your own good: Hidden cruelty in child-rearing and roots of violence. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC.

Straus, M.A., Sugarman, D.B., & Giles-Sims (1997). “Corporal punishment by parents and subsequent antisocial behavior in children”. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 155, 761-767.

Straus, M.A., & Gelles, R.J. (Eds.). (1990) “Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptions to violence in 8,145 families”. New Brunswick, NJ: Transactions.

Straus, M.A. (1994). Beating the devil out of them: Corporal punishment in American families. San Francisco, CA: New Lexington Press.

Strassberg, Z., Dodge, K.A., Pettit, G.S., & Bates, J.E. (1994). “Spanking in families and subsequent aggressive behavior toward peers by kindergarten students”. Development and Psychopathology, 6, 445-461.

Wolfe, D.A. (1987). Child abuse: Implications for child development and psychopathology . Newbury Park, CA: Sage

Author: Nadine Block, Director of the Center for Effective Discipline and co-chair of EPOCH-USA July 2005.